floyd

My thought on Disk #2 (Ranked in order of best-to-worst): Cream of the crop: 1. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (6/8/84) [sDM-3] - Really surprised this was my favorite match of the set but it was really fun. Ladd just towered over everybody and the Midnights and Cornette brought their shenanigans to the party. Ricky Morton plays Ricky Morton here. A molten crowd always helps too. 2. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (Tulsa 5/27/84) [sDM-2] - Hard to pick this or their same day match, but I liked this one a bit better. It seemed a bit more heated and Magnum's come-back a bit more dramatic. Both guys brawled all over the place over Magnum's N.American title with DiBiase using the No-DQ rule to cheat it up. I heard the Motorcity machine guns got heat for refusing to blade while Magnum bladed twice in one day. The times.... they are a changin'' 3. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (OKC 5/27/84) [sDM-1] - Same greatness. Different city. . Very good too: 4.The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84) [sDM-13] - Great little tag match showing what a fun heel team the Guerreros were. 5. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (7/6/84) [sDM-5] - I actually had this higher than the two No-DQ matches initially, but after rewatching all three again (and yet again), I rated this 3rd. Still a very good match with magnum yet again having to make a dramatic come-back to retain the belt. 6. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (7/2/84) [sDM-4] - Not as great as the first encounter, but still really fun. Good: 7. The Fantastics & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (7/20/84) [sDM-6] - While not their best match-up, the great thing about this match is comedy involved with Cornette. Red hot crowd. 8. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (No DQ) (9/28/84) [sDM-11] - Started out as an amazing anything goes No-Dq brawl but slowed up as it turned into a tag team match. Still really good. Hey where's Cornette? All I see is some masked dude outside the ring. ;-) 9. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (OKC 8/9/84) [sDM-7]) - Typical Midnight Express formula which as DDT says is not a bad thing but a good thing.. Good to OK 10. Killer Khan vs. Chris Adams (9/9/84) [sDM-9]) - Killer Khan gets alot of hate but I really enjoyed this short but fun match. Khan seems flabbergasted by Adams getting the better of him early on but soon him and his manager take over. 11. Dusty Rhodes & Jim Duggan vs. Butch Reed & Hercules Hernandez (8/19/84) [sDM-8] - More proof just how awesome Reed was. Another red hot crowd making an average match so much better. OK but ain't no Top 20 or nothin: 12. Brickhouse Brown & Master G vs. Butch Reed & Ernie Ladd (10/21/84) [sDM-14] - Another really fun tag match but too slow in some parts. 13. Butch Reed vs. Skip Young (9/23/84) [sDM-10] - Both guys played their parts well but I dunno. Nothing stood out as memorable. 14. Adrian Street vs. Chris Adams (10/10/84) [sDM-12] - Expected a better technical match then this. Short TV match. Adrian Street. Woman beater!! *********************** Thought fo' Disk #2: - Was harder for me to get through, and needed lots of re-watches. I guess cause of the repeats of match-ups and the fact that while nothing jumped out as super-mega-awesome, nothing was bad either. Good stuff all 'round on this disk. - First time I saw Ernie Ladd. He had to be pretty broken down from his football and wrestling career at this stage, but was alot more spry then what I would've figured. For some reason he reminded me of a black Giant Baba. Baba should've turned heel and teamed with Ladd in the 70's.... - Butch Reed is an awesome heel. - The Fantastics stock went up a bit for me. - I saw some future Eddie Guerrero heel stuff while watching his brothers perform. - The Bonus stuff is really fun for it's history and is a very welcome addition. ********************** Floyd's Ongoing Mid-South Top 10: (After two Disks) 1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) [PTB-8] 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) [PTB-14] 3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) [PTB-13] 4. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (6/8/84) [sDM-3] 5. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) [PTB-16] 6. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (Tulsa 5/27/84) [sDM-1] 7. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (OKC 5/27/84) [sDM-2] 8. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84) [sDM-13] 9. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) [PTB-5] 10. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) [PTB-10] *********************** Your thought on Disk#2? Or any of the Mid South matches?

Floyd’s Rant for Wrestemania IV To be honest I wasn’t looking forward to this show for 2 reasons: 1) It’s not really that good. 2) It’s loooonnngggggggggggggggg (~4 hrs.) This year after Hogan was pinned cleanly by Andre (fuck you Hogan, you lost, the ref counted 3… live with it), Andre gave/sold the World title belt to Ted Dibiase. The WWF wouldn’t allow it so they declared the title vacant and set up a tournament for the title. I thought the tournament was a great idea but unfortunately all the matches were way to short to be any good. Show opens and Ventura says how excited he is is for this event and how happy he is to be calling the show with Monsoon rather than Vince McMahon (who he always argued with in SNME). Bob Uecker is here! Awesome, let the jokes begin! He gives a glare to Ventura. Ventura responds by silently holding his fist in front of the Uke’s face. 0. 20-Man Battle Royal – Participants: Sika, Danny Davis, The Killer Bees, Bad News Brown, Sam Houston, The Rougeau’s, The hart Foundation, The Young Stallions, Ken Patera, Outlaw Ron Bass, Junkyard Dog, The Bolsheviks, Hillbilly Jim, Harley Race and George Steele. Bob Uecker is guest commentator for this match, and he’s pretty hilarious with Ventura. For some reason George “the Animal” Steele starts the match outside the ring and apparently he’s eliminated without even being in the match!?! Maybe he couldn’t take a bump over the ropes ala Iron Sheik in WM 17. Uke says he’s got a date with Vanna White but Ventura says she’s in love with him. It’s weird seeing Ken Patera without blonde/white hair. Final 5: JYD, Harley Race, Bad News Allen, Bret Hart, Paul Roma. Harley takes a 360 bump to be eliminated. Bad News takes care of Roma. Stampede buddies Bad News and Bret Hart team up and after awhile they eventually eliminates JYD. They shake hands and celebrate, looks like their gonna split the win-money and trophy. BUT IT’S A SWERVE!!!! Bad news with a ghetto-blaster to Bret and he dumps him for the win. Bad news receives the trophy and looks pleased until Hart comes back in and smashes the trophy to pieces!! * I heard this was the beginning of Hart’s singles push, but after discovering they were getting rid of Neidheart, he opted to stay tag teaming for 3 more years. Uke leaves to find Vanna White. After he leaves Ventura says he knows right where she is. ROUND ONE 1. “Hacksaw” Jim Duggan Vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted Dibiase (w/ servant Virgil and Andre the Giant) – Although I’ve never seen one, I’ve heard these two had some tremendous matches in their Mid-South feud. Let’s see how this one turns out. Funny story, Virgil was named that because it was the first name of their competition’s head booker Dusty Rhodes. Years later Virgil went to WCW and was renamed Vincent, after Vince McMahon. There’s also an interesting rumor on how Virgil got his job but I don’t believe it and good taste prevents me from telling it. Dibiase starts slow but then they start brawling and Duggan wins that, DiBiase takes a nasty bump to the outside. Dibiase’s awesome, he gets better every time I see his matches. Back and forth and Dibiase gets the advantage. Duggan gets a sunset-flip and Ventura is amazed that dumb-ass Duggan actually pulled a move like that out of his ass. Ventura: “Only at Wrestlemania can I be amazed….” Eventually Duggan comes back but Andre cheats and knocks Duggan out for the DiBiase pin. Andre earned his $$ from Ted that match. Wow tons better than I remember but still nothing special. *1/2 2. Dino Bravo (w/ manager Frenchy Martin) Vs. “Da Rock” Don Muraco (w/ training-supplements-supplier “Superstar” Billy Graham) – Ha WTF is Muraco’s music from? It sounds like a 60’s Hercules movie theme that Mystery Science Theatre 3000 shows. 2 big dudes here. Muraco makes a few early mistakes but the commentators cover for him nicely. Once again Ventura tries to explain the Dino Bravo bench press record that he “helped” on. Bravo kicks Muraco off into the ropes.. into a freakin’ hangman’s noose!!! Whoa!… Bravo with a piledriver, nice once too! Ref bump!! Bravo hits his finishing move, the ref goes over and…….. it looks like Muraco won by DQ!?! WTF!?!?! Aha I didn’t notice it like the commentators but Bravo used the ref as a shield drawing the DQ. This match was also alot better than I remember too. But still only * Kickass promo where Jimmy Hart and Honkytonk put down Uke again. Ain’t no love for the Uke tonight? 3. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat – This is a come-back of sort as Steamboat took a long time off from the WWF are being pissed at McMahon. He brings his son to the ring, Ventura says he’s got cheeks bigger than Bundy. This should be a good one. Steamboat starts off fast and gets his trademark arm drags. Lotsa quick pins for 2, with Steamboat reversing all of Valentine’s moves and we’re back on the arm. Ventura says his pal Barry Blaustein (Director of “Beyond The Mat”) thinks Steamboat’s gonna win the tournament. Valentine’s in the driver seat now and lays the hammer down. Monsoon says: “The external proximal protuberance”, Ventura asks: “What the fuck did you just say?” So Monsoon says “that lump on the back of your head”. Donald Trump is ringside. His wife looks thrilled to be there (not). If I was Steamboat or Valentine I’d take a backdrop over the railing on ‘em. Hammer’s beating the crap out of Steamboat. Chopfest! Back and forth action until Steamboat hits a high cross body, which Valentine’s reverses it for the pin and a small upset! Really good match for the short time allocated. *** Steamboat thanks the fans before he leaves. About 9 months later Steamboat is the NWA World Champion and putting on some of the greatest matches of all-time with Ric Flair. 4. :”The Natural” Butch Reed (w/ manager “Da Doctor O’ Style” Slick) Vs. Randy “Macho Man” Savage (w/ luggage Elizabeth) – Da Slickster dance! Much like Dynamite Kid and Terry Funk, Slick was ahead of his time baby! Ventura’s glad (as am I) that McMahon isn’t doing commentary as he’s worse than Jerry Lawler when it comes to Elizabeth. Seriously it’s no wonder Savage used to be super over-protective with her with Vince’s horny-ass hanging around. Savage tries to use his quickness but Reed uses his power to get the edge. Reed takes smack to Elizabeth, enabling Savage to hit the Flair-slam from the top! Quicker than you can blink he’s on the top rope and gets the elbow drop for the win! 1/2* Back to the Uke with Bobby Heenan & The Islanders. Heenan puts him down. Yet more Uker hate is unleashed on this show 5. The One man gang (w /manger Slick) Vs. “Bam Bam” Bigalow (w/ Lord Oliver Humperfink)– One Man Gang had a nice run in World Class against the Von Erichs (Hope I thinking of the right guy). He went on too become Akeem the Dream. Bam Bam is a incredibly underrated wrestler. I think the only due he got in the U.S. was a brief run in ECW. One Man Gang starts off quick until Bigalow comes back. High cross body by 350+ Bam Bam! Bam Bam goes to the ropes and Slick accidentally slightly touched the ropes and Bigalow went flying out. Bigalow, what a clumsy Ox. Bell rings? Uhhhh.. Count out win by One Man Gang? Hmmmmm.. That would be fine except Bam Bam got back into the ring in ohhh in about 2 seconds??? Ah well whatever, One Man Gang advances. 1/2* 6. “Ravishing” Ric Rude Vs. Jake “The Snake” Roberts (w/ drinking buddy “Damian”) – This is a great opening round match because they were startinjg the feud. Rude’s gimmick was kissing women in the audience. Well one time he kissed Roberts wife so Roberts went ballistic. Rude responded by spray painting Jake’s wife ion his tights. Pretty intense and innovative stuff for its day. Ventura says Rude is the winner of the Jesse “the Body” award. Monsoon asks “What about Ultimate Warrior?” Ventura says: ”His face is too ugly. Looks count too..” Rude’s pretty awesome, he started off terrible but every year he got better and better in every facet of wrestling until he was a great bumper and probably WCW’s best heel until his career-ending injury. Hmmmmm… actually I guess that feud was after this match. Forget everything I wrote..:-) Jake gets the advantage and works da arm. Roberts goes for the DDT and Rude scurries out of the ring. Heenan hugs him. Rude back in and he takes control after a screwed up Robert’s knee drop. Lonnnnngggggggg wear-down sequence, lasting pretty much the entire match. Roberts finally gets out and they trade moves until the bell rings? Time limit draw! That means neither man advances. Nice start and good ending but really boring in the middle. * Jake tries to ram his snake in Rude’s face, but he escape beforehand. Mean gene asks Vanna White’s opinion on Bob Ukear. Vanna White: “Who?” 7. Non-Tournament match: Herculez Hernandez Vs. The Ultimate Warrior – Monsoons says the retard Warrior breaks the 220 record when he runs to the ring. Staredown and although I never see homophopic stuff in wrestling (like a lot of non-fans), I swear I thought Warrior was gonna give Herc an open mouthed kiss. But see queering don’t make the world work. Warrior tries to skin the cat on the ropes, but he ain’t no Steamboat. Both guys brawl outside the ring. Hercules is completely carrying this match. Herc with the full nelson, Warrior in desperation does the Bret Hart/Steve Austin sleeper-escape thingy in the corner and it ends up with Herc shoulder’s down for the 3 count!! Really not much here. ½* ROUND 2 8. Hulk “I won’t job to my best friend Andre cleanly” Hogan Vs. Andre the Giant (w/ bodyguard Virgil and executive consultant Ted DiBiase) – These guys received a bye from the first round because of the SNME controversy. Nice video package of the feud is shown. Anyway for those who don’t know here’s what went down. Andre/Hogan II took place at SNME in early 88. Andre had the Hulkster’s pinned, Hogan got his shoulder up, but the ref counted to 3 and Andre won the title!!!!!!! It seemed the ref was the “evil” twin brother of Earl Hepner, of Dave or I dunno whichever.. Anyway he was paid off and Andre gave the title to Ted Dibiase. GM Jack Tunney said no way and the title was vacated. That SNME match was voted PWI’s Best match of 1988 and although it was a horrendous match quality wise, the sheer markout value of seeing Hogan cry like a bitch (seriously it was hilarious!) in front of the largest TV audience ever for a wrestling match was well worth any awards given to it. Hogan tries to cheapshot right away but Andre’s too quick for him. For absolutely no reason Hogan starts illegally attacking DiBaise and Virgil, jezz what a role model. Maybe it’s roid-rage and he has to beat up people smaller than him. Andre get’s tied upin the ropes, giving Hogan time to rip off his shirt and pose. Hogan gets some shots in but Andre stops him and starts to choke. Andre with the super slow-mo offense. Finally the “training-enhancers” kick in and Hulkster Hulks up!! He punches Andre in the corner and goes for the slam.. But DiBiase with the chairshot to his back! Hehe money , money, money.. Hogan hits Andre with the chair, Andre grabs it and hits Hogan as well (makes a nice “ding” sound off his skull too!). Bell rings. DOUBLE-DQ!!! Wow that was a HUGE upset for this. Hogan runs after DiBiase and Vigil eats a suplex in the floor from Hogan. A very sloppy, lazy and dangerous suplex too. Both guys are eliminated!! Well Andre certainly earned his money again tonight, he got rid of Hogan and took one for the team. That smart strategist DiBiase, his evil plan is working perfectly I tells yeah! Hogan poses for the fans, which lasts longer than the match. ½* 9. Ted DiBiase (w/ out Virgil) Vs. Don Muraco (w/ “Superstah” Bully Graham) – Muraco starts off fast and tries to get a quick pin to advance. Ventura says he taught former WWF Champ Billy Graham everything he knows. DiBiase reverses a move and Muraco is slingshot into the corner post. Now it’s all Dibiase until he misses a reverse top rope elbow. Back and forth and DiBiase gets a nice hotshot which gives him a clean win. Good match ** 10. Randy “Macho man” Savage Vs. Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (w/ manager Jimmy “Da Mouth of the South” Hart). - Dang you know if Steamboat had won, this would’ve been Savage/Steamboat II! All well…Savage starts quick but The Hammer lays the pain down soon. Big chops and Valentine rams Savage into the outside railing. Monsoon says Elizabeth looks worried but I swear every emotion she shows looks exactly the same… boredom.. Valentine goes for his finisher, the Figure-Four, but Savage gets to the ropes. Savage makes a good comeback but the hammer soon stops that. Figure-Four attempt, turned into a small package for a 3 count, Savage wins! Another good round 2 match. ** 11. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: The Honkytonk Man (w/ manager Jimmy Hart and Peggy Sue) Vs. Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake – An enthusiastic Sherri Martel is Peggy Sue byteway, and is a good dancer too! Interesting story about this match: Honky was set to lose his I-C title to Savage at Wrestlemania 4. Honky somehow convined McMahon/refused-to-job-the-title, so Mcmahon instead put Savage in the World title tournament. For the tragic end to this story read the last match in this review. One of Brutus’s offensive moves is messing up Honky’s hair. You know I never really got Brutus’s barber gimmick. I mean I’d freak out and run too if a roided-up shirtless psycho was running after me with a pair of hedge-trimmers. But I mean what’s next? A plumber? A garbage man? A… Oh wait…Maybe prima donna Brutus thinks a haircut is the worst thing you an do to a person.… Anyway the match is pretty much all Brutus and eventually he gets the sleeper hold! Honky’s out! But Jimmy Hart knocks out the ref!!!! Hehehehe, that’s pretty smart. Brutus signals for a Honky haircut but Jimmy grabs the bag and runs off until Bruti catches him. He cuts some hair offa him! Peggy Sue throws water on Honky to wake him up, and they all flee the ring, Honky’s the loser but still da champ. * Hey I bet Bad News, Koko and Butch Reed had fun calling Honkytonk man “Honky” in the locker room. :-) Andre says he doesn’t matter he lost cause Hogan’s out, DiBiase’s in, and that’s all that matters. Andre put his hand on Uke’s shoulder. Uke asks Andre to take his foot off his shoulder please. Andre chokes Uke awhile then leaves. 12. The Islanders (Haku & Tama) & Bobby “The Brain” Heenan Vs. The British Bulldogs & Koko B. Ware (w /managers Matlida the dog and Frankie the bird) – Heenan comes out in an attack-dog uniform to protect himself, pretty smart. I think Heenan dog napped Matlida to set up this feud. And whatever he did to the dog in his house, … stays in his house.. I always thought the Islanders were a good team, with Tama (The Tonga Kid) being a great bumper. But the WWF’s tag division was so deep at this time they were regulated as a B and C team along with other decent teams like the Young Stallions and The Killer Bees. Anyway expect these last few match reviews to be short as I’m getting burned out by this show.. Back and forth action with all the guys minus Heenan. Once AGAIN crippled Dynamite is the face in peril, which makes no sense to me. Heenan gets some cheap shots ala Danny Davis from last year, then bails. Hot tag to Koko and he cleans house until a Haku crescent kick to da jaw. Heenan gets some rib shots on Koko. But Heenan gets posted! Now all 6 guys get in the ring and with some illegal double-teaming, an unconscious Heenan gets the pin on Koko!! Hennan’s undefeated at Wrestlemania!! Davey boy sicks Cujo-like Matlida on Heenan, but the dog just playfully licks him, and you can see Davey boy laughing at it all. *1/2. Round 3 13. The One Man Gang (w/ manager Slickstah) Vs. Randy “Macho man” Savage (w/ manager Elizabeth) - One Man Gang got a bye so he’s only wrestled once while Savage has twice. The gang has a huge weight/power advantage. It’s all One man Gang as he kills Savage until Savage with a top rope axe handle. Savage tries to bodyslam Gang, dumb move.. My man Slick gives the bad mouth to Elizabeth, treating her like one of his ho’s who owe him money. One man gang tries to cheat using Slick’s pimp-stick cane, but the ref sees it and DQ’s him! * Gang breaks the cane over Savages head after the match. But Macho gets pay back, dropping an axe handle on gang who splashes poor Slick into a stain on the ring. 14. TAG TEAM TITLES: Strike Force (Chico Santana & Rick Martel) Vs. Demolition (Axe & Smash w/ manager Mr. Fuji) – Demolition started off as a pathetic Road-Warrior’s rip-off, but managed to make their own reputation with their hard work and turned out to be a pretty decent tag team. Demolition proves to be too powerful so Strike Force uses their quickness. Big illegal clothesline give Demolition the advantage and Chico’s getting mauled! Ventura says “I bet Chico wished he was back in Tijuana selling tacos right now”. Classic smart heel wrestling by Demolition. Flying Jalapeno out of nowhere!!!!! Chico makes the hot-tag to Martel who’s a Canadian House O’ fire! He knocks Ax out of the ring and clamps on his dreaded Stan-Hansen Boston Crab on Smash! The ref is busy with Fuji-san and Ax wallops Martel with Fuji’s Cane of Instant Death. 1,2,3 Demolition are the new tag team champs! **1/2 Round 4 – Da Finals MAIN EVENT TIME!!!!! Celeb watch: World title security guard: Robin Leech (he used to have a show snooping in rich people’s houses) Front-seat warmer: Donald Trump (Rich dude and adulterer) Guest announcer and Mr. Baseball: Bob Uker Guest time-keeper and In Ekcellant spellar: Vanna White 15. WORLD TITLE MATCH: Randy “Macho Man” Savage (w/ manager and lover Elizabeth) Vs. “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase (w/ insurance policy Andre the Giant) – Vanna White gives Donald Trump a kiss right in front of his wife. Hehe. Uke gets a kiss too and starts shaking like Hulk Hogan. He’s Hulking up! No wait, he’s fainting… Ted DiBiase got a bye while Savage has fought 3 times so far. Right off the bat Andre grabs Savage’s leg. Andre does it again, and is pretty good at hiding it. The odds are stacked against Savage!! Savage tries the outside top-rope axe-handle but Andre stands between them. Savage tells Elizabeth it’s too dangerous out here so he sends her to the back. Eventually DiBiase gets the advantage and wears down the already exhausted Savage.. Elizabeth returns with … Hulk Hogan!! Actually I’m pretty sure Elizabeth was going to get George Steele but Hogan laid him out in the back so he could be in another Wrestlemania main event. Andre tries another illegal move but this time Hogan stops him Meanwhile DiBiase gets the Million-Dollar Dream on!! (Sleeper –hold) It’s over! Ring the bell!! Savage is asleep!! New champ!…………… And then when the ref’s back is turned with Andre, Hogan illegally comes in and waffles DiBiase with the chair!!!!!!!!! DiBiase’s out! Savage goes up, hits the elbow, NEW CHAMP! These guys are perfect opponents but there was no time to have a good match here, plus the emphasis was switched to Hogan/Andre. ** Now here’s the end to the Honkytonk story: since he refused to lose the title, Savage was put into the tournament to win the World title. If Honky had jobbed the title to Savage as originally planned, DiBiase was set to win the World title from Hogan. Instead, because of Honky, DiBiase never became a World Champion.:-( Thank God this is over. I love seeing these old Wrestlemania’s and all but this show was loooongggg and didn’t have any stand out matches. I’m going to take 2 aspirins and go outside to get some sun. WM 4 Grade: Total star rating: 21.5 Total matches: 16 Show Average: *1/2

Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania III Attendance for this show is listed at an astonishing 93,173. Most experts place it more around 78,000 nowadays, but the actual number isn’t as important as the fact that a SHITLOAD of people came to see Wrestlemania this year. Vince McMahon opens the show by welcoming the people. You can practically see the dollar signs in Vince’s eyes. He had to have had a week-long orgasm after seeing the gate and buy rate numbers. America the Beautiful is sung by Aretha Franklin. Pretty voice and very well done, but I prefer when Franklin is rocking and rollin’.. Commentators: Gov. Jesse “the Body Ventura” & Dr. Gorilla Monsoon Two Guest celebrators: Mary Hart (Entertainment Tonight host) and my all-time favorite Wrestlemania celebrity ever: Bob “I Can’t catch a ball” Uecker. 1. The Can-Am Connection (Rick Martel & Tom Zenk) Vs. “Ace Cowboy” Bob Orton Jr. & Fuji Vice (“Magificant” Muraco w/ manager Mr. Fuji) – Tom Zenk is infamous for having a column during the early Internet days where he always seemed pissed off at wrestling and his misuse. Haven’t seen the page for awhile, maybe Vince sent Mark Henry to shut him up. Martel was a great wrestler who was AWA World Champion right before it’s dying days. Both Can-Am guys are a step ahead and use their speed to throw the bigger heels around early. Orton and Muraco try the old “OK I’ll hold the guy and you hit him but please don’t hit me” routine that only works 1 time out of 100. It doesn’t work here. Heels get control briefly but soon the faces use illegal double-team moves (yes that right, illegal) and get the pin on Muraco. Pretty decent opener, establishing the Can-Am. ** 2. Herculez Hernandez (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) Vs. Billy Jack Haynes - Replay of Billy Jack Haynes trying to get out of Herc’s full nelson challenge, yup just like Chris Masters. Jack is an asshole though and attacks Heenan beforehand so Herc clotheslines him and puts the full nelson on, hurting Jack’s feelings. I watched Wrestlemania 2 just yesterday and Herc looks a lot more ripped here. Heenan corrects Mean Gene and calls him Billy “Jerk” Haynes. I never really seen Haynes except for this but he was a big star in Portland I believe. Herc gets a shot out of a corner break and gets the advantage. Wow Hayes with a press slam! Damn... Haynes goes for the full nelson so Herc quickly goes to the ropes. Irish whip and Herc explodes out of the corner with a clothesline. Herc whips Jack a bunch of times in the corner. Hayes makes a comeback and goes for a suplex, but his back is too hurt. smell the psychology. More backwork and Herc gets the full nelson on! But as the commentators point out the fingers aren’t locked. With the crowds help Hayes powers out, but Herc gives him a headshot before he does. Hayes with a comeback, but he’s still hurt. He asks the crowd for more cheers which gives him super powers. Now Hayes with the full nelson!! And this ones hooked on good. Herc gets to the ropes and both guys tumble out. Hayes puts it back on outside! 8….9….10…. Double Count out! Afterwards Heenan distracts Hayes while Herc nails him with a chain-wrapped fist. He keeps hitting him and Hayes blades a good one. Good way to continue a feud but I don’t remember much of them wrestling ever again, which is shame cause I liked this match **1/2 3. King Kong Bundy, Little Tokyo & Lord Littlebrook Vs. Hillbilly Jim, The Haiti Kid & Little Beaver - The Bundy trilogy comes full circle as he’s now tagging with midgets in the 3rd match of the show after main eventing last year. By the way Little Tokyo is my favorite midget if anyone is keeping track of stuff like dat. He’s like the straight man of a comic routine when he always screws things up and apologizes while Littlebrook gets madder and madder. But of course like all guys I like a little Beaver now and then. The rules are only the big guys can be in the ring and only the little guys at the same time. Let’s see how long that’ll last.. Criss cross action into a row-boat move. Ahhh the classic midget moves. Typical midget stuff until Little beaver gets a cheapshot at Bundy so Bundy forces Tokyo to tag him in. UH-OH. MIDGIT THRASHING! Nope Hillybilly Jim gets tagged in. Hillbilly Jim AND both midgets pin Bundy, but he still kicks them all off. Hillybilly gets into trouble and Little Beaver gets another cheap shot. Remember these cheapshots, they’ll come important later. Bundy slaps Hillybilly Jim around some more so Beaver comes in for another cheapshot and this time Bundy’s had enough. In an INSANE visual King Kong Bundy bodyslam then elbowsdrops Little beaver!!!! Another squash match for Bundy -> Mean old Bundy goes for the Big Bundy splash but all 3 other midgets team up and drag Little Beaver out before. Bundy is DQ'ed. Not even a match but pretty fun for the midget’s poor pain. Ventura says you can throw out Little Beaver in a garbage bag cause he’s done. *1/2 Mart Hart interviews Macho Man who gives a bad ass promo. 4. JYD Vs. "The King" Harley Race (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) - Uhhh I forgot about this match. But I remember how much I HATE it. It’s a whoever loses must bow to the other. Harley Race has a raspy voice you can only get from 20 years of straight Whisky drinking. For some reason The Uke has a hard on for Moolah (who’s holding the crown.) They start off and JYD quickly knocks Race out of the ring. Harley Race with a kick-ass flying headbutt from the apron to the floor (which JYD avoids)!!!!. Damn I don’t remember that! Anyway it goes back and forth until Harley hits a belly-to-belly and pins JYD clean! ¼* Definitely an upset, with the clean pin and all, but then JYD, after stalling, finally does a half-assed bow and then when Race is looking the other way…. CROWNS HIM WITH A METAL CHAIR!!!???!!! Man! Even as a 8 yrs old JYD fan back then I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do. JYD steals all of the King’s paraphernalia and dances to the crowd. But Harley Race is still listed as the King in my record books. 5. The Fabulous Rougeau Brothers (Jacques & Raymond) Vs. The Dream team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake w/ manager “Luscious” Johnny Valiant) – The Rougeau were a pretty awesome team, but never got to the top with teams like the Hart Foundation, Bulldogs and Demolition hanging around. The Dream Team has a new guy in their stable, Canadian strong man Dino Bravo. Raymond with a hammerlock escape and it just dawned on me, that bad ass bump Davey boy did at Wrestlemania II was probably just a really bad fuck-up on Beefacake’s part. My hate for Beefcake goes up a notch. Dream Team has the advantage and Bobby the Brain Heenan join the commentary and proclaims he’s “Two For Two tonight! And Andre’ll make it 3!” Monsoon reminds him that Bundy lost, but Heenan says that don’t count as he wasn’t out there cause he doesn’t mess with midgets. Meanwhile the match continues as Jacques has Valentine pinned, but behind the ref’s back, Dino hits a top rope bomb to give the Dream Team the win. For some reason Beefcake doesn’t like the cheap win, so his manager/partners leave him. Way too short. ½* 6. “Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper (Hair Vs. Hair match) – Replay of Adonis kicking Roddy’s ass on his own show, so Hot Rod tears up Adonis show “The Flower Shop” in revenge. This is Roddy’s retirement match and whoever loses this gets his hair cut. The crowd gives hPiper huge roar before the match. Piper and Adonis trade belt shots. Adonis with the Flair flip to the outside! Piper drags both Adonis AND Jimmy Hart back in and kicks their ass right back to the outside. Back in and Piper Flair-slams Hart like a projectile onto Adonis. Jesse says Hart is tougher than Uker. Adonis regains control and smacks Piper all round the ring and outside, Hart gets some shots in too. Hart blinds Piper with the Atomizer and Adonis with the sleeper (his finisher) ! Piper fights but it’s no use. Piper’s arm goes down once.. twice and thr.. no it didn’t go down, but Adonis released the hold thinking it did. Meanwhile Beefcake runs in and revives Piper, who puts the sleeper onto Adonis and he’s out! Piper wins. *1/2 Damn ANOTHER terribly unfair win. Now Beefcake helps shave an unconscious Adonis, setting up his “Barber” gimmick that went on for about 3 years. Piper throws Adrian’s hair out to the fans. A fan runs into the ring and Piper shakes his hand, then as he leaves security tackles and handcuffs him. 7. The Hart Foundation & “Dangerous” Danny Davis (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. The British Bulldogs & Chico Santana – Unfortunately this is after Dynamite’s injury, but I thought he was still awesome considering the severity of it. Danny Davis was a referee who supposedly screwed the Bulldogs and Chico Santana out of their titles. So now this is the revenge/kick-his-ass match. The Harts are the tag team champs here bytheway. The faces start quick (even their dog Matilda!) and clear the ring. Back and forth action until the Harts get the advantage and Dynamite is the face in peril. Man, why on earth have nearly-crippled Dynamite take the punishment? Danny Davis comes in, gets one cheap shot, then tags out. Oooooooooooooooooo the crowd doesn’t like him at all. He’s gonna get beat up real bad real soon.. Eventually Davis make a mistake and the thrashing begins. Ahhhhhhh, OK, now I get why Dynamite was in there, so the other more- healthy two guy can KILL Davis in the tags. All the big moves are used on him, you name it.. Flying Jalapeno…. Figure-Four leglock… Crazy jumping piledriver…. Big ass running powerslam… Somewhere behind the ref’s back Daveyboy gets creamed by the megaphone and Davis gets the pin! Hehehehe. Davis better grow a goatee and change his name before the Bulldogs/Chico find him. Short but fun match. *** 8. “The Natural” Butch Reed (w/ manager “The Doctor of Style” Slick) Vs. Koko B. Ware (w/ manager Frankie) – Hmmmm looking at the size of Reed’s arms, I wonder if he’s really that natural. Koko brings in the 2nd animal to the ring tonight, unless you count Little Beaver. The Doctor of Style is decked out in some sweet threads tonight baby. Unfashionably Moonsoon says there’s not 35$ worth of stuff on him. Koko was pretty good in Memphis but like most good athletes, was misused in the WWF. Didn’t see much of Butch Reed before this, but I heard he was good, he went on later to be half of the NWA tag team Doom with Ron Simmons. Koko uses his speed to get an early advantage but Reed cheats and takes over. Jesse says he remembers when Monsoon cheated against Jack Dempsey in 1926. Koko with a quick comeback but Reed cheats again and gets the pin! Cheating rules! * Koko Pearl Harbors Reed out of the ring, so the heroic Slick defends his wrestler by hitting him with the Cane. Then OUT OF NOWHERE Chico runs out, beats him up, and leaves the poor Slickster running with all his cool threads torn up. Chico should be suspended and fined for such terrible behavior… Same for Buttcake and the JYD… 9. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: Randy “Macho” Man Savage (w/ manager “The Lovely” Elizabeth) Vs. Ricky Steamboat (w/ George “the Animal” Steele in his corner distracting Savage and trying to steal Elizabeth like a date rapist cause he tried it 1,000 times before) – Savage’s double ax-handle off the top rope to the outside was considered so devastating back then that it was almost banned So anyway, Savage hits a double ax-handle to Steamboat, crushing his larynx on the railing!! Steamboat’s career was considered over, but the Dragon made a miraculous comeback and is now back for revenge!! Macho’s I-C reign is well over a year by this point and he even gets a nice ovation from the crowd even though he’s the despicable heel. These two guys are ridiculously fast, especially when compared with the rest of the roster. Steamboat starts quick in his rage but Savage outsmarts him and immediate starts working on the throat. Steamboat comebacks and works on the right arm (the flying elbow arm) in some innovative ways. Savage tosses Steamboat out and keeps kicking his ass and then throwing him back out. More nasty larynx-crushing stuff including an elbow and knee. Back and forth with both guys not keeping the advantage for too long. Lots quick pins and arm drags by the Armdragon, and the ref looks tired. Savage tosses Steamboat out again. It looks like Savage is going for a Count Out win. Top-rope axe handle to the floor!!!!! Savage throws Steamboat back into the ring? Why? Ohh I see, Top rope axe handle! WTF, Only 2? Awesome top-rope slingshot throat umm… thingy that gets a 2. More moves and Steamboat barely keeps getting his arm up at 2. Steamboat starts a comeback but Savage goes to the eyes, gets a gut wrench, only 2. Savage rushes… HOLY CRAPP!!!! Savage takes a HUGE Shawn Michaels-type backdrop to the floor years before Shawn Michaels was drugged up enough to try it. Now Steamboat goes outside and throws him in for punishment! Steamboat flies over the ref to hit a karate chop for .. 3!!!! Steamboat wins!!! OMG I.. No wait Savage’s leg was on the rope.. The crowd is really getting into this now. Savage tries the same “run back into the ring and nail him coming in” trick he used early but this time Steamboat is ready for it and gets a 2 count. Steamboat tries about 20,000 pin attempts in like 30 sec, always getting a close 2.9999 count every time. How is Savage kicking out these? Savage reverses an irish whip and posts Steamboat. Another irish whip and a ref bump. Dang. Savage to the top, flying elbow drop!!!!! It’s ovah!!!! It’s… Wait…. The ref’s out!!! Dammit! Savage tries to slap the ref awake but no dice. Savage goes out to get the ring bell to nail Steamboat with, but Steele pushes Savage off the top and Savage’s head hits the bell!! (Well not really, he missed, but let’s pretend he did) A semi-conscious Savage picks up the dead Steamboat who suddenly reverse a slam for a 3 count!!!!!!! After 14 months, A New Intercontinental champ!! If I was reviewing this match for the first time I’d give it 4-1/2 stars but I remember seeing it live (on closed circuit) so: ***** Like Steamboat said years ago, Hogan/Andre sold the show. But this match stole the show. I agree though that Steele should join JYD, Beefcrap and Chico in the suspensions. 10. Jake Roberts (w/ snake-handler Alice Cooper) Vs. The Honkytonk man (w/manager Jimmy Hart) – In Robert’s talk show “The Snake Pit” Honkytonk hit him with the guitar. Unlike Jeff Jarrett’s guitars made of powder, back then it was a REAL guitar and Jake was super hurt for real by it. Both Jesse and Monsoon put over Steamboat’s match, I bet Hogan loved hearing that.. The Honkytonk man: A bad wrestler, but a fantastic heel and good seller. The thing I loved about him is that he really thought the fans loved him and thought he was the greatest wrestler in the world, despite how much they booed him. Jake starts quick and slams Honky outside the ring. Ouch. Honky gets the advantage back. Actually Honky isn’t looking as terrible as I remember. Jake gets a clothesline and signals for the DDT. Honky quickly bails. Jake stupidly comes out so Honky rams him in the post and railing. Back in and Honky uses his cousin (Jerry Lawler’s) top-rope fist-drop move. More beating and Jake doesn’t know here he is. Honky goes for the Shake-Rattle-and-Roll (his finishing move) but Jake reverses it in a backdrop! Honky with the top-rope corner fists but Jake reverse it into an inverted atomic drop. Jake’s making a comeback! Honky pleads for mercy! Honky with the Harley Race rocking-horse in the ropes sell. Jake goes for the DDT! But Jimmy Hart distracts him, Honky cheats and… wins!!??!!?? Wow, a lot better than I remembered. **1/2 What a huge upset this was back then, but who knew that joke wrestler Honkytonk would actually defeat Steamboat and go on to become an 18-month Intercontinental champion? Jake Roberts holds Jimmy Hart while Alice Copper brings the snake out (the reptile, not his trouser snake…) and Jimmy Hart shits his pants. 11. The Killer Bees (Jim Brunzell & B. Brian Blair) Vs. The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff (w/ manager Slick) – Poor Slick. He comes out in his tattered rags but still hold his head up high. Slick demands that everyone stands up and respects the Russian anthem. Nikolai starts singing and Jim Duggan runs out to stop him and clears the ring. C’mon Vince that should be another suspension right there, where’s security? Ventura says Gorilla was standing for the anthem, but Monsoon denies it. The foreigners start right before the bell but the Bees get the advantage and use some nice double team moves. Duggan is patrolling the ring. Heels with the advantage now and they use their power to soften up Brunzell. The Bees make the hot-tag but the ref didn’t see it so it didn’t stand and Brunzell gets beaten more. Monsoon agrees with Ventura that the ref shouldn’t allow it. See that’s what I liked about Ventura/Monsoon, they’d play good guy/bad guy but agree on stuff like Ventura admitted all the cheating early in the show. Today Coach acts like he doesn’t see shit happening. Sheik with a camel clutch and Duggan runs in and wallops him with a 2X4. Sheik and Nikolai win by DQ. ** Man… If I was the Bees I’d turn heel and beat the living snot out of him. That match was also a lot better than I remembered. MAIN EVENT TIME! Celeb watch: Guest Announcer: Da Uke (w/ jokes galore at his expense by Ventura) Guest Time keeper: Mary Hart (but can see ring a bell?) 12. WWF WORLD TITLE MATCH: Hulk Hogan Vs. Andre the Giant (w/ manager Bobby “the Brain” Heenan) – Here we go! This is the match! Andre was billed as being undefeated for his entire career (not true). Replay on Piper’s Pit of Andre demanding a title shot after Hogan was “ducking him all these years”. Andre at this time was in REALLY bad shape and needed back surgery, but still toughed it out cause he’s a bad ass. In fact much like Hennig/Bret Hart in 91 and Lesnar/Angle in 03, the loser was the real winner in my eyes for gutting it out like a pimp. The match starts with the fans GOING CRAZY and a stare-down.Well.. stare-up for Hogan. Push by Andre. Return push by Hogan! Hogan gets the fists in and bodyslams Andre.. No Andre falls on him!! 1.2.3….it’s over!!!! It’s.. and in an infamous moment that’ll come back next year, ref Joey Marella (Monsoon’s real-life son for those interested) only signals 2!!! Wow was that close! Hogan’s hurt! I mean REALLY hurt…. he can’t even stand up. Someone call Life Alert. Andre methodically (aka slowly) starts beating him up. Andre stands on Hogan’s back!! Andre picks him up and starts beating him up in the corner while Hennan cheers him on. Andre’s dominating. Hogan finds some daylight and makes a comeback, the crowd is going insane!! But he can’t knock the giant off his feet. Hogan goes for a corner clothesline, big Andre with a size 26 boot to da face. It’s Bear hug time!!! The fans are cheering on for Hogan to power out. But… it’s not working… Is Hulkamania over? His arm goes down once.. twice… three time!!!!! WTF?, it was three times ref, he should be out. Bah! Anyway on the fourth time Hogan keeps his arm up. Hogan punches his way out, hurting his hand but still punching. The comeback ends with an Andre chop. One big boot later and Hogan’s on the floor. Andre goes after him. He goes to headbutt Hogan, but misses and headbutts the post!! Doh! Then in one of the most disgusting, despicable moves I’ve ever seen before, Hogan takes the padding off the floor and actually tries to piledrive a crippled man on concrete!!!?!!!! Luckily Karma bites Hogan right in the ass and Andre backdrops him. Back in and Hogan finally drops Andre with a clothesline. Andre gets up and Hogan body slams him! The crowds gone insane!! Hogan with a legdrop. 1,2,3! Damn, looks like Heenan’s been foiled again!… Hogan you were lucky tonight dude. **. Hogan starts posing. I stop the DVD. Anyone seen the show? What did you think of it?

Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania II Wrestlemania 2 has always been a childhood favorite of mine. IN fact, it’s easily the Wrestlemania event I’ve seen the most times. This year Vince McMahon wanted to do what Jim Crockett did for Starcade and stage a big card in more than one venue. He chose Three, the first being in: New York: Ray Charles sings the national anthem. Despite some feedback, does a awesome job on it. Ray Charles > Limp Bisquick any day. Roddy Piper cuts a promo saying if Mr. T knocks him out he will quit wrestling. He also adds a creepy line about saying he “will quit dating girls”, then puts his arm around Orton and says “I’ll stick with you”. New York commentators: Vince McMahon and Susan Saint James. I still don’t know who the fuck Susan Saint James is and why she’s here, and don’t feel like looking it up after hearing her awful commentary. Seriously I wish I had a Spanish track or something instead of McMahon/James. 1. Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff Vs. “The Magnificent” Muraco (w/manager Mr. Fuji) – I remember seeing some old pre-Hogan-days Muraco and he looked pretty awesome, but he went waaayyyyyy downhill after he had to get big for WWF 80’s day IMO. Orndorff was also really good until his injury. Muraco gets an early slam but Orndorff gets a slam right back for a huge crowd pop. Muraco stomps Orndorff in the corner but Mr. Wonderful quickly gets the advantage and works on da arm. He works the arm for awhile until Muraco gets a Samoan Drop to break the hold. Both guys start slugging it out until they both tumble out of the ring. The ref separates them and someone RINGS THE BELL! THEY RINGS THE F*^#%&ING BELL!… The crowd starts yelling “Bullshit Bullshit!” and without meaning too I am as well. That’s crap. Super short match which is the sad norm for this show, not even a real match DUD Mr. T cuts a promo and holy crap he reminds me more of Eddie Murphy imitating Mr. T rather than the real deal. You know, I’m not sure what the end of Orndorff/Muracos was, I’m guessing a Double DQ. 2. INTER-CONTINENTAL TITLE: “Macho Man” Randy Savage (w/ manager Elizabeth) Vs. George “The Animal” Steele – Savage comes out to the High School graduation theme. Steele was a big player who I think wrestled both Bruno Sammartino and Bob backlund. Steele has a hard-on for Elizabeth. Savage was just awesome here. He was seriously ahead of the curve with just about anybody else in the promotion. One thing I remember about Savage is how fast he was in his matches. George starts running around like a loony so Savage bails. Savage goes in and out of the ring until Steele finally goes after him. Steele catches him and starts biting Savage'sleg! Savage unwisely goes after Steele so George uses his monster ape-like strength to toss him around. Steele goes after Elizabeth to proclaim his undying love, so Savage gets him tied up in the ropes and puts da boots to him. Flying bodypress gets 2 but on the kickout Steele kicks Savage right out of the ring. Back in and back out. Back in and back out. Jesus Christ Savage is spending more time outside then in. Hey wait.. Where’d he go? Savage goes under the ring and Pearl Harbors Steele from behind. Brains over Brawn. Steele simply bites him in the arm. WTF ref!?? Savage takes a bouquet of flowers that was for Elizabeth and slaps the taste out of Steele, so Steele bites his arm again and tries to stuff the flowers down Macho’s mouth! Steele goes to celebrate by eating a turnbuckle. He uses the stuffing as a weapon somehow to blind and suffocate Savage. Macho’s out…. again…. Steele professes his love to Elizabeth which enables Macho to get a top rope axe handle Hehe hell yeah!! Back in and Macho hits a Top-Rope elbow!! 1,2,3 it’s over Macho wins and… wait…..WTF!!!?? Steele kicked out? That’s crap. Anyway Macho cheats with his feet on the ropes and gets the real pin. Steele doesn’t care and keeps eating the turnbuckle to drown his sorrow. I like Steele and all but Savage was completely wasted here, he should’ve fought Santana, or Steamboat or someone who could’ve kept up with him. *1/4 3. Jake ‘the Snake” Roberts Vs. George Wells – Wells and I share the same last name so I automatically thought he was cool, which is a shame cause I never saw him ever again. Anyway Ex-football player Wells (who looks like a roided up Virgil/Vincent) comes out fast and starts pounding Roberts in and out of the ring. Flying football tackle and head butt puts Jake facedown. Flying headscissors by Wells and Jake calls for a time out. Jake is selling really good. Powerslam gets 2. Jezz, Jake is getting mauled. But Roberts get the old Greco-Roman eye-poke. Wells is swinging blindly and walks right into a knee lift and then….. DDT!!!! It’s ovah! Go ahead and bring the casket down and sprinkle Wells’s ashes cause NO ONE gets out of the DDT back then. Jake brings Damian out of the bag and wraps it around George Wells, who foams/pukes at it. This match showed that no matter what happens, one DDT and it’s all over. * 4. Roddy Piper (w/ Bob Orton & Lou Duva) Vs. Mr. T (w/ Haiti Kid & Smoking Joe Frasier) – Replay shows how stupid Mr. T was at SNME where he was outsmarted by Piper and Orton and was whipped like a dog in the middle of the ring. Piper also shaved the Haiti Kid on Piper’s Pit to make him look like Mr. T. Joan Rivers is a guest ring announcer, I bet she pulls a Lillian Garcia and forgets who the wrestlers are. Guest Judges: Basketball Glass Breaker: Darry Dawkins (cool), Scat-man Cab Calloway (awesome), Judge G. Gordon Lilddy (whatever) , Guest ring announcer……………Herb.. Herb?? Who the crap was Herb!?!?!?! He prances around like a hairdresser and I don’t remember any of these B and C-celebs in the orginal clipped version. This is a boxing match by the way. Piper starts talking trash that Mr. T tries to ignore. Suddenly they goes nose-to-nose. Ah hell yeah!!! It’s on now biyatch! I’m not going to lie, I love this match. A lot of people call this one of the worst embarresments for wrestling and consistantly give it a negative million stars galore, but when I think of John Cena’s reign, it’s nowhere near as bad. [Round 1] They go right at and Piper gets a cheap shot out of out of a break. Mr. T with a Jack Lamotta peek-a-boo defense avoiding Piper who’s swinging like crazy. Round ends with both guys still going at it and the seconds around the ring have to break them up. Pretty even round. Piper walks over between the round and talks more trash.. [Round 2] Early on the ref and Mr. T notice Piper has a lot of grease on his forhead. Hehehehehehe. Cheater! It’s wiped off and Piper starts getting some combos in. Mr. T gets stuck in the corner and is wailed upon. Mr. T is hurt! He on wobbly legs. He’s knocked down and falls like a tree!!! Rocky II my ass. A-Team huh? Mr. T gets up but Piper keeps up the onslaught, and in fact the crowd starts chanting “Roddy! Roddy!” Mr. T collapses at the bell and gets a standing 8 count. Mr. T is hurt. Roddy dances in victory! In between the round Orton throws water at Mr. T. This is awesome! It’s like a clown sketch at the circus. [Round 3] I laugh again when Roddy starts shuffling around like Piper Ali. Mr. T throws some bombs and Piper gets knocked on his ass in the corner. He looks knocked out!! He gets up by 8. A dazed Piper calls out Mr. T. Now the crowd chants “T! T! T!” Turncoats! Big ass left jab Frasier must’ve taught him, and Piper gets knocked right out of the ring!! Orton’s practically shoving Piper’s semi-conscious carcass back into the ring by 9. Piper somehow lasts the round but is beat up. In between the round and now Mr. T comes over and talks trash to Piper. [Round 4] Piper throws a chair at Mr. T to start the round. Both guys are weary and start trading shots at each other. Mr. T’s mouthpiece is knocked out by one. Piper’s getting the advantage! No.. Now Mr. T is!.. Both men are exhausted. What tha..? Piper shoves the ref down.. and bodyslams Mr. T! 10,000 people run into the ring to separate them. Mr. T gets his arm raised in victory so Piper jumps him. The melee continues like a Jerry Springer episode. I was hoping for the Haiti kid to be flung like a discus into the crowd. Smark rating: *, Fun rating: **** Overall: **1/2 Chicago: Commentators: Gorilla Monsoon, Mean Gene Oakerlund, Guest Celebrity Cathy Lee Crosby. 5.WOMEN’S TITLE: “The Fabulous” Moolah Vs. Velvet McIntyre. Yeshh talk about a squash. Moolah gets some hair tosses. McIntyre comes back with some one-footed dropkicks, then goes for a Snuka splash only to belly-flop for the Mollah 1,2,3 pin. DUD 6. Corporal Kirchner Vs. Nikolai Volkoff (w/ manager “Classy” Freddie Blassie) – This is a flag match. Corporal Kirchner is infamous for a bad reason. After leaving the WWF he went to Japan as Leatherface and was jailed for destroying some guys face in a fight, then was blacklisted for nearly killing poor Shoji Nakamaki by legdropping and powerbombing him into a bed of nails. When you gets kicked out of IWA for being TOO violent, you got problems. Nikolai sings the Russian anthem again. I think this is a re-match from a SNME flag match where in a BIG upset Nikolai won. Another ridiculously short match. Corp blades early which is a big deal in Vince McMahon's 80’s WWF, although it’s only a paper-cut sized trickle. The ref gets bumped and Blassie throws in the Deadly Cane of Doom, only for Corp to intercept it and waffle Nikoli for the win! I guess cheating's OK. USA! USA! USA! DUD 7. Football Vs. Wrestlers Battle Royal. This has a lot of NFL football players, capitalizing on the Chicago bears popular 86 Superbowl run. Anyone remember the Superbowl shuffle? HAHAHA that old lady who used to do the “Where’s the Beef” line in Wendy’s commercials had her mic turned off. That was money well spent Vince… Special outside refs: Dick Butt-kiss and “Too Tall” Jones (ex football players/manager). Looks like Ernie Ladd (ex-football and wrestler) is a guest commentator who does a good job. According to Gorilla, the combined weight of all the participants is 5,612 lbs, which is about the same weight as Two King Mabel’s and a side order of Rikishi. Participants: Pedro Morales, Tony Atlas, Ted Arcidi, Dan Spivey, Hillbilly Jim, King Tonga, The Iron Sheik, The Killer Bees, The Hart Foundation, Big John Studd, Bill Fralic, Jimbo Covert, William “Refrigerator” Perry, Harvey Martin, Ernie Holmes, Russ Francis, Bruno Sammartino, and Andre the Giant. - Hard to review this match. Refrigerator Perry and Big John Studd go at it. Last 10 or so: Shiek eliminated 3 guys right away. Bill Fralic gets tossed. Bruno backdrops da evil Shiek out. Studd eliminates 180 yr old Bruno Sammartino. Perry tackles BOTH Hart Foundation guys over the top to a huge pop, but they stay in. Perry goes for another tackle but Studd sidesteps him like a matador. Ole! So Perry goes right over the top rope. HAHA But then he gives Studd a congradulary handshake and Studd gets pulled out! STUDD YOU DUMBASS! Four guys left. The Hart Foundation, Russ Francis, and Andre. Double dropkick gets Andre tied up in the ropes. Francis tries to run but the Harts soften him up and toss him. Double team on Andre including a slingshot tackle. They try to toss him but Andre kicks them off. Another slingshot tackle but Bret Hart eats a mouthful of Andre’s boot. Double noggin knocker! And in one of the crazier looking bumps ever, Andre lightly kicks Neidhart, who proceeds to backpedal about 20 steps and eliminate himself! Bret Hart tries to be sneaky and climb to top but gets caught and tossed over the top rope (one-handed too!) by Andre onto Neidhart. Andre wins! Really fun Battle Royal. ** Piper gives another cool promo about Mr. T’s hair and cheating. “I don’t have to shave my head like an Indian and I don’t have to paint myself black”. Hmmmm. Hey Piper. Did you forget that when you fought Bad News at WM 6? Football player Jumbo Covert cries like a little schoolgirl at being thrown out. Sheik gives another undecipherable promo. 8. TAG TAM CHAMPIONSHIP – The Dream Team (Greg “The Hammer” Valentine & Brutus Beefcake w/”Luscious” Johnny Valiant) Vs. The British Bulldogs (Davey boy Smith & The Dynamite Kid w/manager Captain Lou Albano) – Just to start off, this is my MOTY for 1986. Now there were a lot of better matches this year, Windham/Flair and Fujinami/Maeda quickly come to mind, but this is a big mark-out moment for myself as the Bulldogs finally get their chance at the champs at the biggest show of the year, this time with an outside ref to watch out for the Dream team’s chicanery. For some reason Ozzy Osbourn is ringside. I’m hoping he isn’t too coked up at ringside, as he’s about to see a great match. Davey Boy and The Hammer start off. Davey quickly tosses Greg 10 ft in the air right on his ass. Slugfest back and forth and I suddenly feel bad for Valentine cause he’s tough and it’ll be him taking the hard shots from the Bulldogs whereas Beefcake hates to get his hair messed up. Dynamite is tagged in and he hits a 65mph shoulderblock on Greg. Super intense snap suplex and the Hammer is seeing stars. Davey boy comes in and hits a vertical suplex for 2. Valentine goes outside to takes a powder (not from Ozzy) from the Bulldog onslaught. Stiff forearms by Valentine and a headbutt into Daveyboy’s chestnutts and now he’s a soprano (Not the gangster). Beefcake enters the ring and the match automatically goes down 2 stars. Beefcake works on the arm, Daveyboy counters by hitting a NASTY military press. I mean Davey bounced about 4 feet off the canvas after slamming Beefcake. Dynamite comes back in and chops the shit out of Brutus. Davey boy back in and he hits a perfect-plex for 2. Standing front facelock and Beefcake makes a smart move by backing up, tagging Valentine and holding Davey boy for a Hammer shot from the top-rope. Valentine takes over. Monsoon and Gene put over Valentine’s Hall-of-Fame father. Valentine with a headlock but this time Davey returns the favor, backs up and gets a tag while Valentine is stuck. Dynamite and Greg trade stiff shots like they were back in Japan or something. That’s the thing with Dynamite. He would kill himself for his opponent, but he would also KILL his opponent to get a great match. Side back breaker and Dynamite almost gets the 3 but Beefcake makes the save. Lotsa quick double team moves that you never see nowadays. Valentine hits a sit-down piledriver for a close 2. Dynamite’s hurt!! Somehow Dynamite recovers and now all Four men get involved. Davey boy presses Dynamite over his head to throw at Valentine but he recovers and bails from the ring at the last minute. Tag to Davey and a big time Running Powerslam. Man Greg’s getting killed here, what the hell is Beefcake doing? Valentine reverses an irish whip and Davey gets his arm posted. Hammerlock and Beefcake gets a tag and top rope fist drop. Beefcake takes over the hammerlock and in a NASTYASS bump does THIS: JESUS CHRIST!! -> They keep working on Davey boy’s arm and Valentine gets a running shoulder breaker. For 1..2.. He pulls him back up!!? What’s he thinking? Ahhh..I think he just wants to punish him some more. Davey boy in desperation whips Valentine into the corner where he hits head to head with Dynamite, who flies off the top right onto the floor (Looked nasty too, shame the camera didn’t get a shot if it). Valentine stumbles backwards and falls on his back, Davey collapses on him for the 1…2… 3!!! Wow that came out of nowhere! Beefcake tried to make the save but the outside ref grabbed his leg. There were better Bulldog/Dream team matches but this was just awesome as the Bulldogs finally got the titles after months of chasing and getting screwed. Dynamite blades just for fun outside. ****1/4 Los Angles: Commentators: Gov. Jesse da Body Ventura, Lord Alfred Hayes and Elvira and Elvira’s boobs. 9. Hercules Hernandez Vs. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat – Rumor has it that Steamboat was going to take on Bret Hart here, but they switched to Hercules at the last minute. {Sigh}…Herc attacks right away and starts beating the stuffing out of the dragon. Bunch of reversals and the ArmDragon gets his first 2 armdrags. Herc powers out but Steamboat runs around until he gets the arm again and works more on it. Elvira and Jesse mock Steamboat and call him a wuss for wearing a bandanna on his leg. Hey who’s the one wearing the boa here Jesse? Herc gets out again but Steamboat’s way to fast for him and Steamer gets a suplex on the big man. Herc powers out again and this time clothesline the crap out of Steamboat. Herc starts putting the knees to Steamboat’s skull, gets a bearhug, then drops him throat first onto the top rope. Crowd chants “Steamboat! Steamboat!” Steamboat draws power from the fans and tries a desperation powerslam, but Hercules is too fat and almost gets a 3 when he falls on him. Steamboat’s stumbling around the ring like Floyd on one Dollar margarita night. Hercules looks a bit like Eugene to me. Steamboat gets some big time chops in but Herc stops that nonsense with another clothesline, and gets 2. Press slam by Hercules and he didn’t just toss him, but really rammed Steamboat hard into the mat full force. Another press slam and Herc makes dumb heel mistake #24 by going to the top rope. He tries a Herc splash but Steamboat gets the knees up! Steamboat shows him how it’s done and hits a flying bodypress for the 3 count. Alfred Hayes and Jesse argue about the ref’s count speed. **1/2 10.“Adorable” Adrian Adonis (w/ manager Jimmy hart) Vs. Uncle Elmer – This may come to a huge shock to a lot of people, but Adonis was an AWESOME worker back in the day. He was a fat guy but was ridiculously fast and agile, and could sell like a mofo. I’m not sure why Vince punished him, I’ve heard it was either cause he refused to job to people or wouldn’t lose weight. Anyway, he got stuck with the “gay” gimmick but like Repo man and Dusty Rhodes, took a shitty gimmick and actually got over with it. Ughh, but it’s heart-breaking to see Adonis dressed up and acting like this. As for Uncle Elmer, Vince just had a hard-on for Hillbilly wrestlers, maybe he thought he was making fun of Ted Turner of something I dunno.. Elmer starts with a cheapshot and 300lb Adonis hits a freaking Flair flip in the corner! Crazy stuff, it’s like seeing Mark Henry doing Curt Henning-like selling. More crazy-ass bumping by Adonis and he’s flopping around like Rey Mysterio Jr. Adonis is thrown to the outside and Jimmy Hart argues with the ref. Back in and Uncle Elmer starts undressing Adonis. Elmer with a stomach-block or whatever and Adonis flips over the top ropes and gets caught in the ropes. Adonis gets out only to get a huge Avalanche from Elmer! Uncle Elmer Splash attempt misses and Adonis goes to the top rope for a top rope headbutt, Benoit eat your heart out. Adonis and Hart prance around the ring a few times. That bumping was CRAZY but pretty much a squash. * 11. Tito Santana & JYD Vs. Terry & Dory Funk Jr. – Terry and JYD had been feuding for months and this is the blowoff. Hogan gets his 2nd interview of the card. Terry Funk starts shoving the ref around before the match. Funk was a youngster, only 40 yrs old or so for this match. If you didn’t know that both Terry and Dory are two of the GREATEST wrestlers in history, you need to seriously stop reading this and go find some of their matches….. RIGHT NOW….. JYD starts attacking the Funks so Terry starts throwing chairs into the ring. Terry’s completely insane and Dory has to calm him down. Dory and JYD start off. Dory goes for an irish whip, JYD reverses it, and Dory hits his brother who for some reason falls into the ring like a drunk madman. 5 sec in and this is already awesome. JYD starts bodyslamming both Funks out of the ring. Terry jaws with the fans. Dory gets a cheapshot on Chico, who gets tagged in. So Dory tags in Terry. Terry with some chops but Chico whips him into the ropes. Terry hits the ropes front first and nearly goes over them. It’s hard to describe what’s going on but Funk’s selling is pretty funny/awesome. Funks gets clotheslined right outtra da ring and Chico starts dropkicking Dory who tried to sneak in. Both Funks are out again and Terry’stumbling and punching at ghosts outside. Back in and Terry Funk tries to out punch JYD but ends up being spun around like a top. JYD rams Funk’s head into the turnbuckle 10 times and Terry having trouble standing up. So what does JYD do? He grabs him and rams him 10 more times into the turnbuckle. Another crazy bump to the outside and Terry Funk’s in trouble….. again… Now it’s Dory Funk Vs. Chico. Dory Funk with European uppercuts. Back and forth on the ropes and Santana hits the Flying Jalapeno!! Terry Funk makes the save but of course gets wailed on some more. They do the Funk’s cool double criss-cross thing, which surprisingly works this time as Santana get a Terry Funk knee in the back. Terry tosses Chico outside where Jimmy Harts gets some boots in. Terry gets a suplex for a long 3 and a pissed-off Funk pushes the ref around, who pushes him back. Another suplex attempt but Chico reverses it. They hit head to head and Terry falls luckily right into his corner where Dory tags in. Dory with a butterfly suplex for 2. Chico tries to get the his corner.. almost there….Nope not quite. More Chico beatdown and Terry goes for a legdrop but misses. Chico’s crawling…. almost there again… almost…there…. Nope not quite. Terry mocks Chico by offering him his hand for a tag, but Chico uses his West Texas football evasion moves and gets the hot tag for JYD!! Terry wraps a chain around JYD when the ref is busy, but JYD is inhuman and no sells it! Terry charges and gets backdropped to the concrete floor! Ouch! JYD slams Terry Funk onto a table.. which breaks.! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! ECW! This is crazy stuff for the WWF in it’s day. I think Harley Race had the next WWF table bump (which sadly didn’t go so well), and then it was 10 yrs until Bret Hart did the next one. Uh-oh Terry’s leg is hurt! Jimmy Hart is on the apron and JYD pops him in the mouth. All 4 guys in the ring. Suddenly from stage left a megaphone is thrown into the ring, Terry catches and knock out JYD for the 3! That was an awesomely fun match. If you liked this check out the JYD, Hogan VS. Funks SNME match too. **** MAIN EVENT TIME!! 12. WORLD TITLE MATCH - Hulk Hogan Vs. King Kong Bundy (w/ manager Bobby Heenan) – This is a Cage match. King Kong Bundy (with Don Muraco’s help) broke Hogan’s ribs at SNME and now the Hulkster gets his revenge inside the confines of the steel cage. Celeb watch: Guest Ring announcer: Tommy Lasorda (fat Dodgers coach) Guest Timekeeper: Ricky Schroeder (B-list actor in Silver Spoons) Guest referee: Robert Conrad (another TV B-celeb, I hope Bundy squashes him) Bundy is awesome. His body is shaped like a Milk Dud or a M & M, and looks like he could legitimately snap you in half. Hmmmm just noticed all the security guys around the ring are fat, must be a Union. Hogan enters the ring with his ribs still taped. I’m so glad Ventura is calling this Hogan match. They slug it out and Hogan gets the advantage. Chops and then a big stink Hulkster boot to the head. Because Hogan is such a role model, he uses Bundy’s straps on his outfit to choke him. It’s all Hogan, but he can’t knock the big man off his feet. Bundy gets some rib shots and now Hogan’s hurt! New World Champ in the making? More Rib work and Hogan is in terrible pain. And he’s locked in a cage, so there is no escape! Hogan’s on his back and Bundy goes for the door. Hogan dives and stops him at the last minute. Bundy picks up Hogan and rams Hogan’s back -first into the cage. Bundy tries to escape again but Hogan dives and stops him. Heenan is having a heart attack outside at all these near escapes. Bundy unwraps the ribs and turn-about-is-fair-play as he chokes out Hogan with the bandages. In a smart move Bundy ties up Hogan to the cage and goes to the door! Bundy’s nearly out! But Hogan stops him at the last minute. Now Hogan is making a comeback. He rams Bundy into the cage and Bundy blades! A decent one too for the WWF at the time. Hogan works on the cut and Bundy bleeds more. Hogan throws Bundy around the cage like a pinball. Hogan picks up Bundy, but Bundy falls right onto Hogan with his 400lb + body weight. Bundy goes for the door! Hogan grabs the tape and chokes Bundy. Bundy goes to the eyes and whips him into the corner. AVALANCE!!! Not only that but big Bundy splash!! It’s over! New champ!! He goes for the door. He’s almost there!! Another dive and Hogan stops him. Bundy lays the shots in and Hulkster starts Hulking up! DAMMIT! F*&$^! Hogan whips Bundy and bodyslams Bundy on the rebound. He hits his silly legdrop and now Hogan climbs the cage. Bundy climbs the turnbuckle to stop him at the last minute. Heenan is trying to stop him from the outside too. Hogan kicks Bundy down and continues climbing. Heenan’s trying to stop him. Bundy crawls to the door. Who will win the race? Hogan drops down and wins at the last minute! Somehow a part of me knows that match wasn’t good but I still liked it. **1/2 After the match Hogan the big mean bully he is whips poor 70lb Heenan (who may or may not have had his nasty neck injury at this time) into the cage. Heenan takes a bump better than Hogan would EVER take, even while dreaming. One atomic Drop later and Heenan bumps right out of the cage. Thankfully they didn’t include an extra DVD just for Hogan’s pose down.

I used to do reviews of shows long ago. Since it's a few months before Wrestlemania I'd figure I'd do a review for every Wrestlemania for those who haven't seen the shows. **************************************************** Floyd’s Rant for Wrestlemania I Show starts off with Mean Gene Oakerlund singing the national anthem. Gov. Jessee da Body says Mean Gene rates right up there with Robert Goulet. 1. Chico Santana Vs. The Executioner – The Executioner is Buddy Rose, which means .. damn! He’s super skinny compared to Rose 2.0 in a few years. In the interview Executioner says he’s going after Chico’s leg that was hurt by Greg the hammer valentine and needed surgery. By the way, Chico Sanata is one of my all-time favorites. Being Hispanic myself probably scores him points, but he was an awesome worker and even during his 90’s job days always put out a great match for his opponents. Chico starts with a Taco House O’ fire! And dropkicks Executioner outside. Chico works a headlock Man… I miss Gorilla Monsoon’s and Jesse’s commentary… L Chico makes a dumbass good guy mistake and gets beat on for awhile. Executioner works on the leg but Chico counters into a cool pinning move. Chico’s Tacoing up!! Executioner pleads like a bitch but them outsmarts that dumbass Chico again. Executioner goes to the top rope!! Chico catches him! Flair slam off the top! But AGAIN Chico makes a dumbass mistake and Executioner works on da leg. Chico kicks Executioner all the way out where he lands sitting down on a chair. Back in and Chico hits the Flying Jalapeno! Chico uses his nemesis Greg Valentine’s finishing move, the Figure-Four leglock, gets the submission! Really fun opener. **1/2 2. King Kong Bundy (w/ manager Jimmy Hart) Vs. S.D. Jones – S.D. stands for Special Deliver and he was a really good jobber in the days. Hey cool, the original I used watch as a kid was clipped and never had these interviews Both Jones and Bundy are pretty good. Shame the interview’s lasted twice as long as the match!! For years afterwards they would say it was a record time of 9 sec. It was more like 20 but still an impressive start to Bundy’s year-long push to next year’s Wrestlemania, as this isn’t the last time we’ll see Bundy. A spatula and mop bucket is brought out for S.D. Jones. DUD 3. Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat Vs. Matt Borne – Matt Borne would be known more famously as… Doink the Clown I. He was a pretty good wrestler too though back in his Portland and Mid-South days. Both Jesse and Monsoon put over Borne’s father. Steamboat starts quick and gets a headlock. And in a move I haven’t seen in years because today’s wrestlers are too “primma donna” to take it: AN ATOMIC DROP!!!! Borne’s on rubber-legs. Steamboat mocks poor Borne’s pain. So Borne takes over and stomps on the Dragon for awhile. Steamboat goes into “sympathetic sell-mode” AHHAHAHA YES!. Dr. Monsoon gets his first medical analysis in. I had to rewind it 5 times but it was something like this: “What we call an External pertipal octuberance on the back of your head there” instead of just saying “A Karate Chop”.. More fast paced action and counters by Steamboat until hits a flying body press for the win. Another good match. ** 4. David Sammartino (w/ Father Bruno Sammartino) Vs. Brutus Beefcake (w/ manager “Luscious” Johnny Valient) – Johnny Valiant looks and talks like that guy Andy Kaufman used to do, Tony Clifton, except with Blond hair: Bruno looks about 80 here but looks like he could kick both guys asses as well as Beefcake’s lover, Hogan... Big pop from the MSG for big Bruno. Tie up and Brutus shows he’s stronger. Brutus stalls, another tie up and David gets the advantage with smarts and good wrestling. Brutus cries like a whiny runt bitch outside. Back in and more amateur stuff into a front face lock. Ahh..slow 80’s wrestling. If it was Wrestlemania 22 they’d be a top-rope vertebreaker and two broken Spanish announce tables by now. More 20min headlocks, this time by Brutus. David gets out and keeps Beefcake grounded with more restholds, working on the leg/knee. 40min later and Beefcake gets out and starts kicking Bruno’s son’s ass. David waits for the crowd to cheer and he makes a surprise backdrop comeback! He starts laying into Bruti so Brutus throws him outside in desperation where Valiant, in a particularly diabolical move for it’s day, bodyslams him on the floor. 120 year old Mummy Bruno comes around and, to the biggest pop of the night so far, kicks both their asses to earn a Double-DQ. * 5. INTER-CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP: Greg “The Hammer” Valentine Vs. The Junkyard Dog – JYD is an awful wrestler, but I always really liked him for some reason. JYD swings his chain around and the Hammer bails. Greg Valentine is the son of the legendary Johnny Valentine for those interested, but he was a pretty bad ass wrestler on his own. JYD was a HUGE star in Lousiana before moving to the WWF. JYD thumps him around the ring. WTF, this isn’t boxing ref, stop him or DQ him! The Hammer misses an elbow and JYD does his headbutting routine, knocking Greg out of the ring. Greg works the arm and lays da hammer down with hard forearms before working on the legs. JYD powers out and starts headbutting Valentine so bad he does a Flair flop. Jimmy Hart sticks his nose in and is grabbed by the JYD. This enables Hammer to cheat and get the pin! Chico Santana runs and tells the ref he cheated. The ref buys it and counts The hammer out. JYD wins by Count-Out! That’s CRAP. Greg loses the [kayfabe] winner’s money purse [/kayfabe] cause Chico stuck his nose in, but that’s good fodder for their future feud. Hmmmm, not as good as I remembered. 1/2* 6. TAG TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP: The U.S. Express (Mike Rotundo & Barry Windham w/ manager Capt. Lou Albano) Vs. The Foreign Evil Dudes (Iron Shiek & Nikoli Volkoff w/manager Ayatolla Freddie Blassie) – Mike Rotundo and Barry Windham are both two *extremely* underrated wrestlers. Particularly Windham who may have been the Top 4 or 3 workers in the World from 86-88 or so. Nikoli sings the Soviet National Anthem. Sings pretty good too. So good that the fans throw spitballs into the ring. USA USA USA! The U.S. Express gets a huge pop, but I swear the monkeys in the back jacked up the volume for it. Rotundo and Sheik start off. All-American Mike Rotundo hits a dropkick 10 feet away from Sheik’s face, but Shiek sells it. Quick double-team moves by U.S. Express with the bad guys acting like the Three Stooges and making dumb mistakes and hitting each other. More quick tags and they work on Nikoli’s arm. Nikoli rams Rotundo into Sheiks curley, deadly shoes to get the advantage. Rotundo reverses a vertical suplex but is so beat up he can’t make the tag. The Rotundo beatdown continues. USA USA USA Chant! Monsoon claims there’s 25,000 at MSG tonight. Hehehe I kinda doubt it, but it sure sounds like it, MSG always rocked. Rotundo gets free, lunges, and makes the hot tag! Windham’s clearing house! Bulldog to Nikoli but Sheik makes the save. Rotundo knocks Sheik to the outside. The ref throws Rotundo out while the Shiek sneaks up and hits Windham with the dreaded Cane of Death! (Breaks it too) Windham is knocked the FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFfuck out! 1,2,3,. NEW CHAMPS!!! WTF? Where’s Chico? Why doesn’t he come out and tell the ref what happened? The evil foreigner dudes steal the belts! Fun match but too short. **1/2 Gene Mene asked Blassie where’s your Cane? Blassie: “What Cane!?! I didn’t have no Cane.”… 7. Andre the Giant Vs. Big John Studd (w/ manager Bobbie “The Brain” Heenan) – This is a 15,000$ bodyslam match. If Andre can slam Studd he gets 15,000. If he can’t Andre must retire. Scheme Gene tries to steal some bills from the bag but gets his hand slapped by Studd and Heenan. Typical Andre match from those days. I’ve heard that Andre didn’t like Studd and used to stiff him in the matches. Studd gets a low blow and tries to slam Andre, but hurts his back. Studd you moron. The fans start chanting “Slam Slam Slam!” Slow match with Andre dominating. Andre softens up the leg and GETS DA SLAM!! Andre is awarded the money and starts throwing it to the fans!!! So Heenan sprints in the ring like Carl Lewis and grabs the bag! Fun match cause Andre was in it. but Slooooowwwwwwwwww and Boooooooooooooooring.. 1/4* 8. WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP: Leilani Kai (w/ Fabulous Moolah) Vs. Wendi Richter (w/ International Superstar Cyndi Lauper) – Ummm do you have enough makeup there Richter? Jezz you even make Sherri Martel go “GODAMN Girl, that’s a lot!” Sting too. Nice mat work by both girls, especially Kai. Lotsa hair pulling throughout the match. Kai distracts the ref and Moolah grabs Richter’s hair. 40 lb soaking-wet Lauper knocks Moolah on her ass. Kei goes for a Steamboat Flying Bodypress but Richter reverses it (although she screwed it up).. Surprisingly good match. I mean if they did this same match in Japan, Aja Kong would beat their asses up for being so crappy and leave them broken and bleeding in the alleyway, but compared to today’s WWF Women’s matches it was like Flair/Steamboat. ** MAIN EVENT TIME! The Celebraties are introduced: Guest Referee: Womanizing Pat Patterson Guest Ring Annoucner: All around nice guy baseball manager: Billy Martin Guest Time Keeper: Man’s Man and Pat Patterson’s favorite celeb: Liberace (with the Rockettes watching his back) Guest Outside Referee: Boxing legend Muhammed Ali 10. World Champ Hulk Hogan & Mr. T (w/ Jimmy Snuka in their corner) Vs. “Rowdy” Roddy Piper & Paul “Mr. Wonderful” Orndorff (w/ "Ace Cowboy" Bob Orton in their corner) – Big pops for the celebs. Piper and friends come out first with a Bag-pipe band playing for them. Ha pretty cool!.. Hogan and T come out to a nuclear pop. Got my money on the heels here. Legit tough guy Liberace rings a super-gay looking bell. Only Manly-man Liberace could get away with sometime so fruity. This match won PWI’s MOTY for 1985, let’s see if it’s any good. Hogan and Orndorff start off. The crowd is super hot for this. They circle and Piper is jumping up and down for the tag. A tag and now Piper’s in. They circle and now Mr. T’s jumping up and down, screaming for a tag in. WTF is he thinking? He’s not a real wrestler?… Hogan asks the crowd and obliges with a tag to T. . Piper… looks… pissed…. They go nose to nose. Slap by Piper! Slap by Mr .T! Slapfest continues until Piper gets a quick boot and takes that wussy celeb wanna be to the mat. But Mr. T escapes! Piper’s embarresed. Tie –up and Mr. T wins. Piper’s embarrassed again! And… is… MORE… pissed.. He rushes in and Mr. T with a firearms carry into a bodyslam! Piper rushes again suddenly all six guys jump into the ring for a brawl. Ali comes and around AND TAKES A SWING AT PIPER!!! THEN RUNS AFTER ORTON AND TAKES A SWING AT HIM! THE CROWD IS GOING CRAZY!!! Billy Martin’s laughing at all this crazy shit. The heels are scared at Ali and stay on the outside. Piper then says “Fuck it”, flips off the crowd and they start walking to the back to a chorus of boos.. Referee pat Patterson starts counting them out. Hogan stops him and begs the heels to come back, which they do. They slowly enter the ring and then suddenly charge Hogan only to get a double-noggin knocker. Super Atomic-Drop by Hogan to Piper! Piper’s nutts be all like broken! .. Hogan bounces Pipers head off the mat a bunch of times and they both slug it out until Mr. T is tagged in for a double clothesline to Piper. Mr. T bodyslams and hip tossed both heels. Hogan back in and Piper looks out on his feet. Big boot to Piper and he’s out of the ring. Orndorff sneaks a clotheline to Hogan, knocking him out of the ring too. Outside and Piper hits a chairshot on him!!! This is equivalent to a DDT on broken glass back then. Piper runs when Ali comes over but the damage is already done. Piper looks very pleased with himself and starts getting payback to the Hulkster in the ring. The heels cut the ring in half and taunt Mr .T which lets them double team Hogan. Double-Atomic Drop on Hogan and then a cool Steve Austin looking elbow by Orndorff. Both the heels continue to maul Hogan with quick tags and nice moves. Orndorff goes for a top rope elbow..AND MISSES! Orndorff you dumbass! The crowd is going bananas! Hogan crawls over to Mr. T while a hurt Orndorff goes to tag Piper. Can he make it? Mr. T is tagged in!!!!! But the heels smartly cut him off short and Orndorff and Piper keep him grounded with amateur moves to wear him down. Uh-oh…. Now Mr. T is in for da beating. Mr. T draws power from the fans and explodes for a tags in to the Hulkster! Another double noggin knocker but Orndorff hits a back suplex to end that shit. Orton runs in only to get headbutted out by Snuka. All six guys are in the ring again for a melee! Orndorff has Hogan in a full-nelson! Piper runs after him but is intercepted by Mr. T. The ref(s) try to break up Piper and T, meanwhile Orton sneaks to the top rope for a match and possible career-ending “arm-caste shot” to Hogan. But Hogan moves and he hits Orndorff instead!!!!!!! Snuka knocks Orton outta da ring and Hogan gets the 3 count on Orndorff!! Piper is so pissed and knocks out the ref before leaving. Him and Orton leave an unconscious Orndorff in the ring. He wakes up and looks for Piper and Orton, but they’re gone. This’ll set up their feud including a great SNME match. Yes I’m definitely overrating this main event, and although it wasn’t an Guerrero/Benoit technical clinic, it was a really fun match to watch. **** ********************************************** Anyone see the show? If so what did you think of it? Not the best Wrestlemania obviously, but better than any card the WWF had done so far.

Thanks for the info Bix. Even with baseball's scandal, I thought the wrestling side was getting forgotten in Congress, I'm glad that's not the case.

I'm guessing he makes more money and isn't in constant pain by fake acting then fake acting AND taking bumps.

I know I'll get flak from my low ranking of the cage match, but here' s my list after watching Disk #1: My thought on Disk #1 (Ranked in order of best-to-worst): Cream of the crop: 1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) - Whoever loses the fall must leave town. This was supposed to be Hacksaw defending the belts but he couldn't make it so Portland Matt Bourne took his place. DiBiase/Bourne make a good heel tag team. Really fun tag match with an ending so awesome if made it my #1 for the set. 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) - Super Awesome. Don't know how the feud started but apparently these guys really didn't like each other. 3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) - Somehow Mr. Olympia had turned heel and apparently screwed over Chavo as this is the grudge match. Great match with Mr. Olympia being a bastard heel and Chavo doing good moves to a hot crowd. Very good too: 4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) - If anyone wanted to know what the Midnight Expresses was all about, this might be the match to show them. Nothing mid blowing but sheer brilliance in working the crowd. How Jim Cornette was never beaten to death in a fan riot I'll never know. 5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) - Sweet match here. Almost like the stereotypical heel Vs. the stereotypical babyface. Both guys stock goes up for me in this match, especially Mr. Olympia who does a running dive to the outside on the concrete. Good stuff, but again since it's TV too short to really place high for me. 6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) - The revenge match with Mr. Wrestling II taking the gone Mr. Olympia's place. Good tag match. Good: 7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) - Fun tag match. I like the DiBiase/Duggan team and Mr. Olympia continues to be great, reminding me of classic babyfaces like Tito Santana. 8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) - Never seen Buck Robley before but he looks like a mix of Necro butcher and 70's George Carlin. I'm also guessing Robley didn't have to have testosteroe theory in his later years like everyone else. OMG is a pimp sized bump-master here! For a guy who weighs 8,000 pounds, man he was thowing his body all around the ring and to the outside. Also the entire match the commentators keep saying how much they like Robley and how sad it is that there's no way he can win. They basically start making funeral preperations for him. Which makes his comeback so much better at the end. Just a fantastic small guy/big fat guy story. Lumberjack Dick Murdoch was standing with his back to the camera with a "All japan" T-shirt on which was pretty neat. 9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) - You wanna talk about fucking crowd heat? Jesus Christ the crowd shaking the entire building during this match. After getting tarred and feathered by the Midnights, Bill Watts brings in a ringer. The dangerous shooter, the masked Stagger Lee. In the unlikely event of his team losing, Jim Cornette has to wear a diaper after the match. 10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) - pretty cool opening match on the set between two guys i've never seen before. Mike George played a good heel and Bob Roop was awesome with his heel-ishness. 11. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) - I've seen this match highly praised by everyone over at DVDVR but I can't understand why, and not just best on Disk #1 but a top pick for the entire set. It's a really good match but I dunno, nothing amazing to me. Both Magnum and Mr. Wrestling II have to make big comebacks in an attempt to win the tag titles. Reed looked good here. Good to OK 12. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) - Never seen Mr. Olympia before. He's the Mississippi Champ here. Mr. Wonderful looks alot more mobile and quick here than in the WWF. Good match, wished it had been longer. 13. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) - ha I liked the team of Porkchop Cash and Dundee. Formulaic Midnight Express match, which means it's good. 14. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) - Sadly Mr. Olympia's partner couldn't be here, so he got a great replacement in the masked Stagger Lee. 15. Butch Reed v. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) - It's almost weird seeing how unbroken and mobile Sheik was here, doing neck bridges and taking bumps around the ring. There's one memorable part where the ring crew really should've tightened the ropes/turnbuckle more. Plus Shiek was a master at evil heel cliches. 16. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) - Cool Roop again with his old school heel work. Roop defends his N.A. title. The plus here was some really great mat work you don't see anymore. OK but ain't no Top 20 or nothin: 17. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) - Dream match between the soon to be long-time rivals. R N R Expess put up the belts against Jim Cornette's momma's $50,000. Good match but nothing fantastic. 18. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) - Bockwinkle defends the AWA World title here. Pretty OK match, nothing special. 19. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) - I'm guessing the R n R Express was new here, as it seemed to be a spotlight for their team. Jim Cornette is at ringside taking notes. No Sir. I Didn't like it: 20. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) - Gah! Didnt like this one at all. And this from a JYD fan growing up, plus Bockwinkle/Heenan are one of the greatest twosome ever. If Bockwinkle wins he get's JYD's crown. If the JYD wins this one he gets bump master Heenan in the ring after the match. Too slow here. *********************** Thought fo' Disk #1: - Bob Roop was pretty good. A classic heel but who also had a nice technical background. - Mr. Olympia was awesome, either as a good guy or heel. How come I never of him? - Hacksaw Duggan's spear is to be feared. - The tag team matches in Mid-South are great. - One should not worship false idols. But as far as wrestling goes, Cornette IS a demi-God. - How the FUCK aren't the Midnight Express in the Hall-of-Fame!?!?? ********************** Floyd's Ongoing Mid-South Top 10: 1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) 3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) 4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) 5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) 6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) 7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) 8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) 9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) 10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) *********************** Feel free to flame any of picks as long as you discuss why first. ;-) Now on to Disk #2!

My thought on Disk #1 (Ranked in order of best-to-worst): Cream of the crop: 1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) - Whoever loses the fall must leave town. This was supposed to be Hacksaw defending the belts but he couldn't make it so Portland Matt Bourne took his place. DiBiase/Bourne make a good heel tag team. Really fun tag match with an ending so awesome if made it my #1 for the set. 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) - Super Awesome. Don't know how the feud started but apparently these guys really didn't like each other. 3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) - Somehow Mr. Olympia had turned heel and apparently screwed over Chavo as this is the grudge match. Great match with Mr. Olympia being a bastard heel and Chavo doing good moves to a hot crowd. Very good too: 4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) - If anyone wanted to know what the Midnight Expresses was all about, this might be the match to show them. Nothing mid blowing but sheer brilliance in working the crowd. How Jim Cornette was never beaten to death in a fan riot I'll never know. 5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) - Sweet match here. Almost like the stereotypical heel Vs. the stereotypical babyface. Both guys stock goes up for me in this match, especially Mr. Olympia who does a running dive to the outside on the concrete. Good stuff, but again since it's TV too short to really place high for me. 6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) - The revenge match with Mr. Wrestling II taking the gone Mr. Olympia's place. Good tag match. Good: 7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) - Fun tag match. I like the DiBiase/Duggan team and Mr. Olympia continues to be great, reminding me of classic babyfaces like Tito Santana. 8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) - Never seen Buck Robley before but he looks like a mix of Necro butcher and 70's George Carlin. I'm also guessing Robley didn't have to have testosteroe theory in his later years like everyone else. OMG is a pimp sized bump-master here! For a guy who weighs 8,000 pounds, man he was thowing his body all around the ring and to the outside. Also the entire match the commentators keep saying how much they like Robley and how sad it is that there's no way he can win. They basically start making funeral preperations for him. Which makes his comeback so much better at the end. Just a fantastic small guy/big fat guy story. Lumberjack Dick Murdoch was standing with his back to the camera with a "All japan" T-shirt on which was pretty neat. 9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) - You wanna talk about fucking crowd heat? Jesus Christ the crowd shaking the entire building during this match. After getting tarred and feathered by the Midnights, Bill Watts brings in a ringer. The dangerous shooter, the masked Stagger Lee. In the unlikely event of his team losing, Jim Cornette has to wear a diaper after the match. 10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) - pretty cool opening match on the set between two guys i've never seen before. Mike George played a good heel and Bob Roop was awesome with his heel-ishness. 11. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) - I've seen this match highly praised by everyone over at DVDVR but I can't understand why, and not just best on Disk #1 but a top pick for the entire set. It's a really good match but I dunno, nothing amazing to me. Both Magnum and Mr. Wrestling II have to make big comebacks in an attempt to win the tag titles. Reed looked good here. Good to OK 12. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) - Never seen Mr. Olympia before. He's the Mississippi Champ here. Mr. Wonderful looks alot more mobile and quick here than in the WWF. Good match, wished it had been longer. 13. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) - ha I liked the team of Porkchop Cash and Dundee. Formulaic Midnight Express match, which means it's good. 14. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) - Sadly Mr. Olympia's partner couldn't be here, so he got a great replacement in the masked Stagger Lee. 15. Butch Reed v. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) - It's almost weird seeing how unbroken and mobile Sheik was here, doing neck bridges and taking bumps around the ring. There's one memorable part where the ring crew really should've tightened the ropes/turnbuckle more. Plus Shiek was a master at evil heel cliches. 16. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) - Cool Roop again with his old school heel work. Roop defends his N.A. title. The plus here was some really great mat work you don't see anymore. OK but ain't no Top 20 or nothin: 17. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) - Dream match between the soon to be long-time rivals. R N R Expess put up the belts against Jim Cornette's momma's $50,000. Good match but nothing fantastic. 18. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) - Bockwinkle defends the AWA World title here. Pretty OK match, nothing special. 19. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) - I'm guessing the R n R Express was new here, as it seemed to be a spotlight for their team. Jim Cornette is at ringside taking notes. No Sir. I Didn't like it: 20. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) - Gah! Didnt like this one at all. And this from a JYD fan growing up, plus Bockwinkle/Heenan are one of the greatest twosome ever. If Bockwinkle wins he get's JYD's crown. If the JYD wins this one he gets bump master Heenan in the ring after the match. Too slow here. *********************** Thought fo' Disk #1: - Bob Roop was pretty good. A classic heel but who also had a nice technical background. - Mr. Olympia was awesome, either as a good guy or heel. How come I never of him? - Hacksaw Duggan's spear is to be feared. - The tag team matches in Mid-South are great. - One should not worship false idols. But as far as wrestling goes, Cornette IS a demi-God. - How the FUCK aren't the Midnight Express in the Hall-of-Fame!?!?? ********************** Floyd's Ongoing Mid-South Top 10: 1. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted Dibiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) 3. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrerro (6/24/83) 4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) 5. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) 6. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) 7. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) 8. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) 9. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) 10. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) *********************** Your thought on Disk#1? Or any of the Mid South matches? Feel free to flame any of picks as long as you discuss why first. ;-)

Just want to say again how badass this is Loss. I can only imagine how much time it takes to go through the newsletter and type all that out. It's super appreciated, reliving all these stories are great! Ha I remember that. During the match Ventura asked Mcmahon their names so he could ask them out later, but McMahon had no idea. The Rumble was broadcast live right?

See, at least with the others you at least knew what they were aiming for. I never understood the point of the Evil Foreign Heel Menace From......Finland? How was that supposed to get over at all? Is he going to sodomize you with skis? He wasn't even that bad of a wrestler for the WWF at the time, but the premise was so ridiculous people were just like "LOL Finland". The thing I found so funny was that Ludvig Borga was a heel but loved the environment. it's like the WWE told the fans that evil dudes were eco-friendly. Was this a jab at WWF (Wildlife Foundation) by chance?

Just got the Observer in the mail here's the results. Forgive any mispellings, I can't type very well..: Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year): 1. John Cena (437 #1 votes) - 2,459 pts 2. Bryan Danielson (77) - 928 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (42) - 728 4. Shawn Michaels (32) - 579 5. Takeshi Morishima (41) - 565 6. Mistico (6) - 510 7. Mitsuharu Misawa (33) 8. Cibernetico (28) - 290 9. Kurt Angle (7) - 202 10.Edge (16) - 196 MMA MVP 1. Randy Couture (334) - 2,254 2. Quinton Jackson (105) - 1,446 3. Chuck Lidell (116) - 1,209 4. Frank Shamrock (3) - 353 5. Anderson Silva 6. Geirge St. Pierre 7. Kid Yamamoto 8. Forrest Griffin 9. Yoshihiro Akiyama 10. Masato Most Outstanding Wrestler 1. Bryan Danielson (434) - 2,646 2. Shawn Michaels (46) - 468 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (62) - 642 4. Naomichi Marufuji 5. Nigel McGuiness 6. Samoa Joe 7. KENTA 8. Takeshi Morishima 9. Edge 10. John Cena Most Oustanding MMA Fighter 1. Quinton Jackson (157) - 1,554 2. Anderson Silva (151) - 1,508 3. Randy Couture (131) - 1,235 4. Urijah Faber 5. Tyson Griffin 6. Clay Guida 7. George St. Pierre 8. Fedor Emelianenko 9. Matt Serra 10. Kid Yamamote Best Box office Draw 1. John Cena (331) - 2,299 2. Chuck Lidell (267) - 2,192 3. Mistico (133) - 1,603 4. Randy Couture 5. Quinton Jackson 6. Tito Ortiz 7. Cibernetico 8. Kid Yamanoto 9. Perro Aguayo jr. 10. HHH Feud of the Year 1. Undertaker Vs. Batista (148) -1,160 2. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (89) - 1,119 3. Briscoes Vs. Steen & El Generico (121) - 1,045 4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels 5. Matt Hardy Vs. MVP 6. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni 7. Matt Hughes Vs. Matt Serra 8. Tito rotiz Vs. Chuck Lidell 9. Gran Apache Vs. Billy Boy 10. Vince McMahon Vs. Donald Trump Tag Team of the year 1. Mark & Jay briscoe (474) - 2,641 2. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelly (58) - 1,132 3. Kevin Steen & El Generico (0) - 690 4. Giant bernard & Travis Tomko 5. Matt & Jeff Hardy 6. Paul London & Brian Kendrick 7. Lance Cade & trevor Murdoch 8. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Dio 9. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori 10. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzaki Most Improved 1. MVP (305) - 1,966 2. Claudio Castagnoli (34) - 564 3. Tomko 4. Takeshi Morishiam 5. Candice Michelle 6. Jeff Hardy 7. Umaga 8. John Cena 9. Hirooki Goto 10. Batista Best on Interviews 1. John Cena (151) - 1,243 2. Santino Marella (133) - 1,208 3. Edge 4. Quinton jackson 5. Larry Sweeny 6. Christian Cage 7. Frank Shamrock 8. Tito Ortiz 9. Mr. kennedy 10. Ric Flair Most Charismatic 1. John Cena (358) - 2,447 2. Quinton Jacklson (158) - 1,491 3. Ciberetico 4. Randy Couture 5. Shawn Michaels 6. Tito Ortiz 7. Mistico 8. Edge 9. Jeff hardy 10. Forrest Griffin best Technical Wrestler 1. Bryan Danielson (529) - 2,928 2. Nigel McGuiness (15) - 784 3. Yuji Nagata 4. Fit Finlay 5. KENTA 6. Kurt Angle 7. Naomichi Marufuji 8. Mike Quackenbush 9. Shawn Michaels 10. Samoa Joe Brusier Brody Best Brawler Award 1. Takeshi Morishima (157) - 1,464 2. Umaga (101) - 1,199 3. Samoa Joe (115) - 1,129 4. Fit Finlay 5. Necro Butcher 6. Togi Makabe 7. John Cena 8. Abyss 9. Undertaker 10. Rhyno Best Flying Wrestler 1. Mistico (162) - 1,394 2. Ricky Marvin 3. jack Evans 4. AJ Styles 5. Pac 6. Matt Sydal 7. Jeff Hardy 8. Matt Cross 9. Dragon Kid 10. Rey Mysterio jr. Most Overrated 1. Giant Khali (187) - 1,210 2. Mr. Kennedy (80) - 586 3. HHH 4. Bobby Lashley 5. Batista 6. Big Daddy V 7. Randy Orton 8. Kurt Angle 9. Kevin Nash 10. Mistuharu Misawa Most Underrated 1. Shelton Benjamin (98) - 735 2. Jamie Noble 3. Paul London 4. Alex Shelly 5. William Regal 6. Brian Kendrick 7. Matt Hardy 8. Go Shiozaki 9. AJ Styles 10. Christopher Daniels Promotion of the Year 1. UFC (280) - 2,479 2. ROH 3. WWE 4. NOAH 5. AAA 6. CMLL 7. New Japan 8. Dragon Gate 9. Strikeforce 10. TNA Best Weekly TV Show 1. The Ultimate Fighter (390) - 2,463 2. WWE RAW 3. WWE Smackdown 4. AAA 5. CMLL 6. Wrestling Society X 7. NOAH 8. Inside MMA 9 & 10. Bodog Fight Costa Rica & TNA Impact (tie) Worked Match of the year 1. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (8/25) (118) - 1,199 2. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori Vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi marufuji (7/15) (131) - 1,108 3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuiness (6/9) - (146) - 1,061 4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (4/23) 5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (1/28) 6. Briscoes Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (9/15) 7. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (4/29) 8. Cima, Shingo Takagi & Susuma Mochizuki Vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki (No Date given, ROH match?) 9. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (11/11) 10. Hiroshi Tanahasi Vs. Yuji Nagata (4/13) Shoot Match of the year 1. Randy Couture Vs. Tim Silvia (3/3) (202) - 1,453 2. Nick Diaz Vs. Takanori Gomi (2/24) 3. Tyson Griffin Vs. Clay Guida (6/16) 4. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni (6/22) 5. Frank Edgar Vs. Tyson Griffin (2/3) 6. Chris Horodecki Vs. Shad Lierley (6/1) 7. Forrest Griffin Vs. Maruricio Rua (9/22) 8. Quinton Jackson Vs. Chuck Lidell (5/26) 9. Quinton Jackson Vs. Dan Henderson (9/8) 10. Steve berger Vs. Piotr Jackacynski (No date Given, Costa Rica) Rookie of the year 1. Eric Stevens (106) - 756 2. Joe Doering (88) - 752 3. Tim Donst 4. La Sombra 5. Cyber Kong 6. Ted DiBiase Jr. 7. Ted McNailer 8. Lince Dorado 9. Seiya Sanada 10. Bobby Dempsey Best Non-Wrestler 1. Larry Sweeney (382) - 2,269 2. Vince mcMahon (97) - 847 3. Jim Cornette 4. Jim Mitchell 5. William Regal 6. Sharmell 7. Karen Angle 8. Lacey 9. Armando Estrada 10. Generalissimo Takada Best Television Announcer 1. Jim Ross (325) - 2,257 2. JBL (184) - 1,609 3. Joe Rogan 4. Mauro Ranallo 5. Mike Goldberg 6. Dave Prazak 7. Frank Mir 8. Mike Teney 9. Joey Styles 10. Kenny Bolin Worst Television Announcer 1. Don West (269) - 2,204 2. Micheal Cole (116) - 1,130 3. Johnathan Coachman 4. Todd Grisham 5. Mike Teney 6. Jerry Lawler 7. Col. Bob Sheridan 8. Joey Styles 9. Taz 10. Leticia Cline Best Major Wrestling Show 1. ROH Man Up (188) - 1,296 2. WWE Wrestlemania (133) - 1,138 3. Pride 2nd Coming 4. ROH Driven 5. Pride Otoko Matsuri 6. Strikeforce/EXC Judgement Day 7. WWE Backlash 8. UFC 68 9. UFC 66 10. UFC 76 Worst Major Wrestling Show 1. WWE/ECW December to Disremember (12/3/06) - 298 pts. 2. TNA Lockdown 3. WWE Unforgiven 4. TNA Hard Justice 5. UFC 78 6. TNA Victory Road 7. TNA Final Resolution 8. WWE Jugement Day Best Wrestling Maneuver 1. KENTA's Go To Sleep - 98 pts. 2. Randy Orton's running soccer kick 3. Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer 4. Bryan Danielson's Cattle Mutilation 5. Matt Sydal's shooting Star press 6. Bryan Danielson's elbows 7. Samoa Joe's muscle buster 8. Takeshi Morishima's backdrop driver 9. CM Punks Go To Sleep 10. Shawn Michaels' superkick Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic 1. TNA Signing Pacman Jones/Making it Rain - 317 pts. 2. Vince mcMahon's death 3. WWE's entire handling of post-benoit re: Steriods 4. Hornswoggle as Vince's illegitament son 5. Giant Khali as World Champion 6. WWE doing Benoit tribute show Worst Television Show 1. TNA Impact - 476 pts 2. WWE/ECW - 122 3. WWE RAW 4. Wrestling Society X 5. WWE Heat 6. IFL Battleground Worst Feud of the Year 1. Kane Vs. Big Daddy V - 204 pts 2. VKM Vs. Christy Hemme - 121 3. Eric Young Vs. Robert Roode 4. Batista Vs. Giant Khali 5. Vince McMahon Vs. Bobby Lashley 6. Layla Vs. Kelly kelly 7. Kane Vs. Giant Khali 8. Cody Rhodes Vs. Bob Holly 9. Abyss Vs. Black Reign 10. WWE Vs. Honesty & John Cena Vs. Giant Khali (TIE) Worst Match of the Year 1. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (Blindfold match - 4/15) - 149 pts 2. Fake Donald Trump Vs. Fake Rosie O'Donell (1/8) - 119 3. Giant Khali Vs. Kane (4/1) 4. Giant Khali Vs. Horsnwoggle (11/17) 5. Layla Vs. Kelly Kelly (11/27) 6. Monsters Battle Royal Kane Vs. Giant Khali Vs. Mark henry (10/30) 7. Big Daddy V. Vs. Boogyman (9/18) 8. Kane Vs. Mark henry (6/3) 9. Chrsity Hemme Vs. Fat Oily Guy (2/11) 10. Giant Khali Vs. Batista (10/7) Worst Promotion of the year 1. TNA - 520 pts 2. WWE - 42 pts 3. IFL 4. All-Japan 5. AAA 6. IWA Puerto Rico Best Booker 1. Gabe Sapolsky - 495 pts. 2. Joe Silva - 128 3. Riki Choshu 4. Michael Hayes 5. Dorian Roidan 6. Vince McMahon Promoter of the year 1. Dana White - 412 pts 2. Vince mcMahon - 113 3. Cary Siikin 4. Joachim Roldan 5. Paco Alonso Best Gimmick 1. Santino Marella - 344 pts. 2. Black Machismo Jay Lethal - 52 3. MVP 4. Fetus 5. Takeshi Morishima 6. Matt Classic 7. Delirious 8. King Booker 9. Chris Hero 10. Awesome Kong Worst Gimmick 1. Black Reign - 203 pts 2. Horswoggle McMahon - 88 3. Pacman Jones 4. Big Daddy V 5. Jillian Hall singing 6. VKM 7. Abyss 8. Fat Oiley Guy 9. Boogyman 10. HG & Giant Khali (TIE) Best Pro Wrestling Book 1. Hitman by Bret Hart - 266 pts 2. A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho - 237 3. Brody Vs. Larry Matysik 4. Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley 5. NWA by Tim Hornbacker 6. Lucha Loco by Malcom Venville 7. Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels by Oliver/Johnson Best Pro Wrestling DVD 1. Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen - 332 pts 2. History of the AWA - 73 3. The Ladder matches 4. Shawn Michaels: heartbreak & Triumph 5. The New and Improved DX

Worst Major Wrestling Show 1. WWE/ECW December to Disremember (12/3/06) - 298 pts. 2. TNA Lockdown 3. WWE Unforgiven 4. TNA Hard Justice 5. UFC 78 6. TNA Victory Road 7. TNA Final Resolution 8. WWE Jugement Day Best Wrestling Maneuver 1. KENTA's Go To Sleep - 98 pts. 2. Randy Orton's running soccer kick 3. Petey Williams Canadian Destroyer 4. Bryan Danielson's Cattle Mutilation 5. Matt Sydal's shooting Star press 6. Bryan Danielson's elbows 7. Samoa Joe's muscle buster 8. Takeshi Morishima's backdrop driver 9. CM Punks Go To Sleep 10. Shawn Michaels' superkick Most Disgusting Promotional Tactic 1. TNA Signing Pacman Jones/Making it Rain - 317 pts. 2. Vince mcMahon's death 3. WWE's entire handling of post-benoit re: Steriods 4. Hornswoggle as Vince's illegitament son 5. Giant Khali as World Champion 6. WWE doing Benoit tribute show Worst Television Show 1. TNA Impact - 476 pts 2. WWE/ECW - 122 3. WWE RAW 4. Wrestling Society X 5. WWE Heat 6. IFL Battleground Worst Feud of the Year 1. Kane Vs. Big Daddy V - 204 pts 2. VKM Vs. Christy Hemme - 121 3. Eric Young Vs. Robert Roode 4. Batista Vs. Giant Khali 5. Vince McMahon Vs. Bobby Lashley 6. Layla Vs. Kelly kelly 7. Kane Vs. Giant Khali 8. Cody Rhodes Vs. Bob Holly 9. Abyss Vs. Black Reign 10. WWE Vs. Honesty & John Cena Vs. Giant Khali (TIE) Worst Match of the Year 1. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (Blindfold match - 4/15) - 149 pts 2. Fake Donald Trump Vs. Fake Rosie O'Donell (1/8) - 119 3. Giant Khali Vs. Kane (4/1) 4. Giant Khali Vs. Horsnwoggle (11/17) 5. Layla Vs. Kelly Kelly (11/27) 6. Monsters Battle Royal Kane Vs. Giant Khali Vs. Mark henry (10/30) 7. Big Daddy V. Vs. Boogyman (9/18) 8. Kane Vs. Mark henry (6/3) 9. Chrsity Hemme Vs. Fat Oily Guy (2/11) 10. Giant Khali Vs. Batista (10/7) Worst Promotion of the year 1. TNA - 520 pts 2. WWE - 42 pts 3. IFL 4. All-Japan 5. AAA 6. IWA Puerto Rico Best Booker 1. Gabe Sapolsky - 495 pts. 2. Joe Silva - 128 3. Riki Choshu 4. Michael Hayes 5. Dorian Roidan 6. Vince McMahon Promoter of the year 1. Dana White - 412 pts 2. Vince mcMahon - 113 3. Cary Siikin 4. Joachim Roldan 5. Paco Alonso Best Gimmick 1. Santino Marella - 344 pts. 2. Black Machismo Jay Lethal - 52 3. MVP 4. Fetus 5. Takeshi Morishima 6. Matt Classic 7. Delirious 8. King Booker 9. Chris Hero 10. Awesome Kong Worst Gimmick 1. Black Reign - 203 pts 2. Horswoggle McMahon - 88 3. Pacman Jones 4. Big Daddy V 5. Jillian Hall singing 6. VKM 7. Abyss 8. Fat Oiley Guy 9. Boogyman 10. HG & Giant Khali (TIE) Best Pro Wrestling Book 1. Hitman by Bret Hart - 266 pts 2. A Lion's Tale by Chris Jericho - 237 3. Brody Vs. Larry Matysik 4. Hardcore Diaries by Mick Foley 5. NWA by Tim Hornbacker 6. Lucha Loco by Malcom Venville 7. Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Heels by Oliver/Johnson Best Pro Wrestling DVD 1. Ric Flair and the Four Horsemen - 332 pts 2. History of the AWA - 73 3. The Ladder matches 4. Shawn Michaels: heartbreak & Triumph 5. The New and Improved DX Whewwwh that's all of 'em..

Just got the Observer in the mail here's the results. Forgive any mispellings, I can't type very well..: Lou Thesz/Ric Flair Award (Wrestler of the Year): 1. John Cena (437 #1 votes) - 2,459 pts 2. Bryan Danielson (77) - 928 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (42) - 728 4. Shawn Michaels (32) - 579 5. Takeshi Morishima (41) - 565 6. Mistico (6) - 510 7. Mitsuharu Misawa (33) 8. Cibernetico (28) - 290 9. Kurt Angle (7) - 202 10.Edge (16) - 196 MMA MVP 1. Randy Couture (334) - 2,254 2. Quinton Jackson (105) - 1,446 3. Chuck Lidell (116) - 1,209 4. Frank Shamrock (3) - 353 5. Anderson Silva 6. Geirge St. Pierre 7. Kid Yamamoto 8. Forrest Griffin 9. Yoshihiro Akiyama 10. Masato Most Outstanding Wrestler 1. Bryan Danielson (434) - 2,646 2. Shawn Michaels (46) - 468 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (62) - 642 4. Naomichi Marufuji 5. Nigel McGuiness 6. Samoa Joe 7. KENTA 8. Takeshi Morishima 9. Edge 10. John Cena Most Oustanding MMA Fighter 1. Quinton Jackson (157) - 1,554 2. Anderson Silva (151) - 1,508 3. Randy Couture (131) - 1,235 4. Urijah Faber 5. Tyson Griffin 6. Clay Guida 7. George St. Pierre 8. Fedor Emelianenko 9. Matt Serra 10. Kid Yamamote Best Box office Draw 1. John Cena (331) - 2,299 2. Chuck Lidell (267) - 2,192 3. Mistico (133) - 1,603 4. Randy Couture 5. Quinton Jackson 6. Tito Ortiz 7. Cibernetico 8. Kid Yamanoto 9. Perro Aguayo jr. 10. HHH Feud of the Year 1. Undertaker Vs. Batista (148) -1,160 2. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (89) - 1,119 3. Briscoes Vs. Steen & El Generico (121) - 1,045 4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels 5. Matt Hardy Vs. MVP 6. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni 7. Matt Hughes Vs. Matt Serra 8. Tito rotiz Vs. Chuck Lidell 9. Gran Apache Vs. Billy Boy 10. Vince McMahon Vs. Donald Trump Tag Team of the year 1. Mark & Jay briscoe (474) - 2,641 2. Chris Sabin & Alex Shelly (58) - 1,132 3. Kevin Steen & El Generico (0) - 690 4. Giant bernard & Travis Tomko 5. Matt & Jeff Hardy 6. Paul London & Brian Kendrick 7. Lance Cade & trevor Murdoch 8. Masato Yoshino & Naruki Dio 9. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori 10. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzaki Most Improved 1. MVP (305) - 1,966 2. Claudio Castagnoli (34) - 564 3. Tomko 4. Takeshi Morishiam 5. Candice Michelle 6. Jeff Hardy 7. Umaga 8. John Cena 9. Hirooki Goto 10. Batista Best on Interviews 1. John Cena (151) - 1,243 2. Santino Marella (133) - 1,208 3. Edge 4. Quinton jackson 5. Larry Sweeny 6. Christian Cage 7. Frank Shamrock 8. Tito Ortiz 9. Mr. kennedy 10. Ric Flair Most Charismatic 1. John Cena (358) - 2,447 2. Quinton Jacklson (158) - 1,491 3. Ciberetico 4. Randy Couture 5. Shawn Michaels 6. Tito Ortiz 7. Mistico 8. Edge 9. Jeff hardy 10. Forrest Griffin best Technical Wrestler 1. Bryan Danielson (529) - 2,928 2. Nigel McGuiness (15) - 784 3. Yuji Nagata 4. Fit Finlay 5. KENTA 6. Kurt Angle 7. Naomichi Marufuji 8. Mike Quackenbush 9. Shawn Michaels 10. Samoa Joe Brusier Brody Best Brawler Award 1. Takeshi Morishima (157) - 1,464 2. Umaga (101) - 1,199 3. Samoa Joe (115) - 1,129 4. Fit Finlay 5. Necro Butcher 6. Togi Makabe 7. John Cena 8. Abyss 9. Undertaker 10. Rhyno Best Flying Wrestler 1. Mistico (162) - 1,394 2. Ricky Marvin 3. jack Evans 4. AJ Styles 5. Pac 6. Matt Sydal 7. Jeff Hardy 8. Matt Cross 9. Dragon Kid 10. Rey Mysterio jr. Most Overrated 1. Giant Khali (187) - 1,210 2. Mr. Kennedy (80) - 586 3. HHH 4. Bobby Lashley 5. Batista 6. Big Daddy V 7. Randy Orton 8. Kurt Angle 9. Kevin Nash 10. Mistuharu Misawa Most Underrated 1. Shelton Benjamin (98) - 735 2. Jamie Noble 3. Paul London 4. Alex Shelly 5. William Regal 6. Brian Kendrick 7. Matt Hardy 8. Go Shiozaki 9. AJ Styles 10. Christopher Daniels Promotion of the Year 1. UFC (280) - 2,479 2. ROH 3. WWE 4. NOAH 5. AAA 6. CMLL 7. New Japan 8. Dragon Gate 9. Strikeforce 10. TNA Best Weekly TV Show 1. The Ultimate Fighter (390) - 2,463 2. WWE RAW 3. WWE Smackdown 4. AAA 5. CMLL 6. Wrestling Society X 7. NOAH 8. Inside MMA 9 & 10. Bodog Fight Costa Rica & TNA Impact (tie) Worked Match of the year 1. Bryan Danielson Vs. Takeshi Morishima (8/25) (118) - 1,199 2. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori Vs. Kota Ibushi & Naomichi marufuji (7/15) (131) - 1,108 3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuiness (6/9) - (146) - 1,061 4. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (4/23) 5. John Cena Vs. Umaga (1/28) 6. Briscoes Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (9/15) 7. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (4/29) 8. Cima, Shingo Takagi & Susuma Mochizuki Vs. Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Masaaki Mochizuki (No Date given, ROH match?) 9. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (11/11) 10. Hiroshi Tanahasi Vs. Yuji Nagata (4/13) Shoot Match of the year 1. Randy Couture Vs. Tim Silvia (3/3) (202) - 1,453 2. Nick Diaz Vs. Takanori Gomi (2/24) 3. Tyson Griffin Vs. Clay Guida (6/16) 4. Frank Shamrock Vs. Phil Baroni (6/22) 5. Frank Edgar Vs. Tyson Griffin (2/3) 6. Chris Horodecki Vs. Shad Lierley (6/1) 7. Forrest Griffin Vs. Maruricio Rua (9/22) 8. Quinton Jackson Vs. Chuck Lidell (5/26) 9. Quinton Jackson Vs. Dan Henderson (9/8) 10. Steve berger Vs. Piotr Jackacynski (No date Given, Costa Rica) Rookie of the year 1. Eric Stevens (106) - 756 2. Joe Doering (88) - 752 3. Tim Donst 4. La Sombra 5. Cyber Kong 6. Ted DiBiase Jr. 7. Ted McNailer 8. Lince Dorado 9. Seiya Sanada 10. Bobby Dempsey Best Non-Wrestler 1. Larry Sweeney (382) - 2,269 2. Vince mcMahon (97) - 847 3. Jim Cornette 4. Jim Mitchell 5. William Regal 6. Sharmell 7. Karen Angle 8. Lacey 9. Armando Estrada 10. Generalissimo Takada Best Television Announcer 1. Jim Ross (325) - 2,257 2. JBL (184) - 1,609 3. Joe Rogan 4. Mauro Ranallo 5. Mike Goldberg 6. Dave Prazak 7. Frank Mir 8. Mike Teney 9. Joey Styles 10. Kenny Bolin Worst Television Announcer 1. Don West (269) - 2,204 2. Micheal Cole (116) - 1,130 3. Johnathan Coachman 4. Todd Grisham 5. Mike Teney 6. Jerry Lawler 7. Col. Bob Sheridan 8. Joey Styles 9. Taz 10. Leticia Cline Best Major Wrestling Show 1. ROH Man Up (188) - 1,296 2. WWE Wrestlemania (133) - 1,138 3. Pride 2nd Coming 4. ROH Driven 5. Pride Otoko Matsuri 6. Strikeforce/EXC Judgement Day 7. WWE Backlash 8. UFC 68 9. UFC 66 10. UFC 76 ***************** I'll post the rest soon (unless someone beats me to it). Cause I type sloooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwww.. If I'm breaking any rules by reporting the winners cause it's from the Observer, please let me know.

Except for some ROH shows, I think Ive seen most of what I wanted to, so here's my picks for the Top 25 matches of 2007! ******************************************** 25. Mitsuharu Misawa Vs. Takuma Sano (NOAH Spring Navigation - 4/28) - Misawa gets in trouble quickly and has to regroup or else he'll lose his GHC World title. 24. Mschif Vs. Awesome Kong (Shimmer Vol. 9 - 4/7/07) - The Awesome Kong invasion continues when she takes on NWA Women's champ Mschif (Non-title match) 23. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels Vs. Edge Vs. Randy Orton (WWE Backlash - 4/29) - Fun 4-way for the RAW World title with a great finish. 22. Mistico Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. (CMLL 2/3 Falls - 7/27) - Wagner beats the crap out of Mistico and even steals his mask after winning the 1st fall! Now Mistico must make the comeback. 21. Takeshi Morishima Vs. Samoa Joe (ROH Fifth Year Festival: NYC - 2/16) - Two fat bruisers pound each other around during Samoa Joe's last ROH tour. 20. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (Death Before Dishonor V: Night 1 - Street fight - 8/10) - Insane Streetfight that goes all over the arena with career threatening bumps. 19. CMLL Cage of death (Mistico Vs. Hijo del Perro Aguayo Vs. Villano V Vs. Dr. Wagner Jr. Vs. Ultimo Guerrero Vs. Hijo de Lizmark Vs. Blue Panther Vs. Atlantis) (CMLL 74th Anniversary Show - 9/28) - Cage match where the goal is to escape the cage until two wrestlers remain. Those two then have a regular match with the loser getting unmasked or head shaven! 18. Jun Akiyama & Takeshi Rikio Vs. Yoshihiro Takayama & Takashi Sugiura (NOAH Spring Navigation - 4/28) - Akiyama & Rikio defend the GHC Tag titles in a great match. 17. KENTA & Taiji Ishomiri Vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi (NOAH Summer Navigation - 7/15) - NTV Cup finals between two spot-tastic Jr. tag teams. 16. Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama Vs. Kenta Kobashi & Yoshihiro Takayama (NOAH Winter Navigation - 12/2) - Kobashi dramatically return after 18-months and he gives it his all in this emotional tag team match. 15. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelly & Chris Sabin) (ROH Good Times, Great Memories - 4/28) - TNA invades ROH with the Machine Guns using evil heel tactics to combat the Briscoes double-teaming-ness. If you want to see the two top tag teams of 2007 go at it, here it is. 14. John Cena Vs. Shawn Michaels (WWE RAW - 4/23) - After Randy Orton got kicked from the show, it gave Cena and Michaels more time to work a match, 57 minutes actually. A hot crowd and a back and forth match. 13. Takashi Sasaki Vs. Yuko Miyamoto (Big Japan - Fluorescent Lighttubes Construction Site Scaffold Death Match - 3/14) - Cool deathmatch where both guys take insane punishment but refuse to stay down. 12. Bryan Danielson vs. KENTA (ROH Driven - 6/9) - Danielson/KENTA III is the rubber match and as it never aired on the PPV, could this be considered as the greatest dark match ever? 11. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Castagnoli & Matt Sydal (ROH Respect is Earned - 5/12) - Awesome tag team match with non-stop perfectly timed spots and hot near-falls. TOP 10! 10. Bryan Danielson Vs. Go Shiozaki (ROH Live in Tokyo – 7/16) - A tremendous sleeper match of the year as ROH visits Japan for the 1st time. 9. John Cena Vs. Umaga (WWE Royal Rumble - Last Man Standing match - 1/28) - Despite broken ribs Cena still defends the WWE World title against the Barbaric Umaga. 8. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Kevin Steen & El Generico (ROH Man Up Ladder match) - The ladder match was banned in ROH after this match. So yeah it's pretty bad. 7. Takeshi Morishima Vs. Bryan Danielson (ROH Manhattan Mayhem II - 8/25) - Danielson finally gets his shot at the unstoppable monster Morishima. 6. Jimmy Jacobs Vs. BJ Whitmer (Supercard of Honor - Cagematch - 3/31) - Hellacious cage match that will settle the feud once and for all! 5. Chris Harris Vs. James Storm (TNA Sacrifice - Texas Death match - 5/13) - Another nasty feud-ending match. An anything goes match between former tag team partners. 4. Yuji Nagata Vs. Togi Makabe (New Japan - 7/6) - Nagata defends his IWGP World title here and Makabe out for revenge from their first match. Makabe's all confident coming in and has no respect for Nagata. He dominates the early portions and inflects ghetto scissors damage. This isn't your grandma's New Japan! The tables turn however as Nagata shows he's tough and both guys end up bleeding all over the place but refusing to lose. 3. Bryan Danielson Vs. Nigel McGuinness (ROH Driven 6/23) - Whoever wins this match gets a shot at Morishma's ROH World title. Both guys are driven to win. 2. Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs. Hirooki Goto (New Japan - 11/11) - Tanahasi defends the IWGP title. Tremendous match that went back and forth with Goto getting his knee jacked-up throughout and Tanahasi nearly dying off a move. 1. The Briscoe Brothers Vs. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki (NOAH - 1/21) - The Briscoes were defending their newly won GHC Jr. tag titles here to a hot crowd. It's a near constant spotfest for over 25 minutes with the Briscoes trying to retain their title in their first defense and Marvin/Suzuki desperatly trying to keep the titles in Japan.

Yeah but then they'd make the big guy a vampire. .. I read in this topic that Kobashi had a kidney removed. It that true? Yikes. I don't know the affects of working on one kidney, but it can't be good. To be honest, as a fan I'd kinda wished Kobashi would retire rather than return for his future heath..

It's years later but I'll lay my cards on the table. Here's my Top 10 I sent in: 1. Ric Flair 2. Mitsuharu Misawa 3. Terry Funk 4. Bret Hart 5. Harley Race 6. Jumbo Tsuruta 7, Kenta Kobashi 8. Chris Benoit 9. Jushin "Thunder" Liger 10. Ricky Steamboat

I think everybody did. Well I gave Jim Ross the benefit of the doubt and thought he was just laying out the truth to Jones that he had to get bigger, but not saying he HAD to get roided up. But how would he get bigger? Well that's up to Jones to figure that one out..

I know I'm a week and 1/2 late, but I was just wondering what you guys picks are for the best matches of 2007? Any must see matches? Any sleeper matches that didn't get noticed? Also what do you think will win WON's Worked match award? Either ROH or NOAH has won the award last fours years, Will 2007's be the same?

Think that was Flik. His reasoning behind it was he voted for the Top 50 wrestlers he enjoyed to watch the most.

Hey kewl, I actually saved a copy of the ballot I sent in for the poll. Looking at it and remembering the countdown, I think I was the only votes for Carlos Colon, Terry Taylor, Mike Rotundo and Jerry Lynn. Umm.. I might replace Lynn with someone else next time 'round..

I would also like to humbly request access to both forums, please. Thank you. PM'd you. -- Loss, 01/08 - Thank you sir!

Yeah I seem to remember something about HHH pushing for a Wargames match with Evolution as a team. But instead they morphed it into the Elimination Chamber. I don't think Vince can help himself when it comes to no-selling anything he didn't "create". I'm just glad he acknowledged the $$ he could make, instead of just burning all the various promotion's footage he's bought throughout the years.