Grimmas

Of course I'm going to vote Bret. Of the ones I've seen footage of, Martel would be the closest. Hans Schmidt and Patterson are hurt by lack of older footage.

Thanks for all your kind remarks. Sorry I'm always a few days or so behind, but that's what you are going to get. Pretend news travels fast from Mexico and the Observer is mailed out slowly. Upcoming Super Friday show. Super Viernes on January 25, 1985 at Arena Mexico Match 1: Solar y Popitekus y Tony Salazar contra Los Missioneros de la Muerte (Negro Navarro y El Texano y El Signo) Match 2: El Hijo del Santo y Hombre Bala y Alfonso Dantes contra Fuerza Guerrera y El Dandy y Tony Benetto Match 3: Gran Cochisse y Atlantis y Tony Acre y Vulcano contra Los Guerreros del Universo (Negro Casas y Black Terry y Blue Panther y Babe Face) Semi-Main Event: Mexican National Tag Team Titles Match: Ringo Mendoza y Cachorro Mendoza (Champions) contra Gino Hernandez & Chris Adams Main Event: Sangre Chicano contra Pirata Morgan

It was a sound move. Demo was the champions, but were losing steam and were not listening to him anymore. He found a younger and more powerful team that would listen to him to replace them. Demo starting getting cheered and that ego went to their heads and were going to dump Fuji anyways, so it was a pre-emptive strike. POP had the tools and Fuji knew all about Demos, so it was a risk that didn't pay off. However if he stuck with Demos, he may had had no tag teams. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. As for Hogan, he did retain the title and get rid of Hogan for almost a decade. Add that to his resume, he ended Hulkamania in the WWF.

Fuji got Muraco within seconds of winning the World Title from Hogan. A series of MSG matches including a cage match. That's not a laughing stock, he moved him up the card. Can you blame Fuji for dumping the old Demolition for the newer and improved Powers of Pain? Also he took back Demolition out of loyalty and pity. 2 world titles and 2 tag titles, Heenan would love to have had that record.

Mr Fuji was arguably a detriment to most of his clients. He bungled Demolition when he decided to bail on them in favour of the Powers of Pain, then he inserted himself into the PoP's big Wrestlemania match which directly contributed to them losing their big shot. With Yoko, he immediately made a verbal contract with Hulk Hogan seconds after he won at Mania 9. Disasterous. Fuji was a calamity zone, awful decisions all over the place. ----------- Letters from Kayface time line (84-97) General Adnan World Champion Paul Bearer World Champion Mr. Perfect 2x World Champion Mr. Fuji 2x World Champion 2x Tag Titles Jimmy Hart 3x IC Title 3x Tag Titles Bobby Heenan 3x IC Title 2x Tag Titles Freddie Blassie Tag Titles

WWE's ratings and attendances are down and TV ratings are the most important thing on their business model. Still? They don't get paid per rating or by ad rates, they get a flat fee. Ratings are only important when they have to renegotiate a deal in a few years. I'm not Chris Harrington, so I'm not sure how their business is. However their Network subs are up, and they are all over mainstream stuff. I think the WWE feels they are very successful now on their goals.

excerpts from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Letter's Page for January 23th, 1985 Dear Dave, This was the best week of CMLL since I started watching! Last week we had a promo from The Dynamic Duo about coming into CMLL this week and boy did it deliver. If you thought The Sheiks had heat, you have not seen anything yet. The Dynamic Ones came to the ring with American flags and just pissed off the entire arena. They were teamed up with an ugly man called Emilio Charles Jr. who seems to be pretending he is very beautiful. It's kind of funny, but he is pretty hated too. Especially hated teaming with the Americans here. They took on Valente Fernandez, the guy who lost the title the first week, and the Mendoza brothers who are the tag team champions. Thy Dynamic team won two straight falls and took every opportunity to piss off the crowd. They challenged the Mendozas for the tag team titles next week! That's going to be a hoot. Which brings me to a question, how is CMLL taping these? They seem to be the same building every time, but how many shows are they taping at once? I don't really get this structure. This match was followed by a cool video package of Perro Aguayo who was seemingly playing chess, however El Satanico's face appeared on the King chess piece and started insulting him and saying he would take him out of wrestling. Very bizarre, but very cool. We then got a video package of Los Villanos facing the team of Super Astro, Solar, and Ultraman. Two masked teams. The Villanos were rougher, but the other team was really slick. The match seemed to have a lot of cool highlights, including some incredible dives by one of the Astro, Solar, and Ultraman team members (sorry can't tell them apart, they are all in similar masks and outfits.) The main event had Los Brazos (the masked team where one of them was hugely fat from the first episode) taking on Jerry Estrada (kind of a heel version of Ricky Morton looking guy), Espanto Jr. (who was in a black outfit with a cool mask), and Kato Kung Lee (a masked ninja?). This went close to 30 minutes and was all action. To my surprise the fat Brazos (they kept saying Super Porky on commentary) was incredibly agile and his a nice array of flying. In fact everyone here was really athletic and acrobatic. Los Brazos won in the third fall when two Brazos pinned Espanto and Kung lee simultaneously. A really fun match and a great way to end the show. Stan Grimmas Thanks again Stan, I've heard about Los Brazos and am hoping you could start sending me the tapes. The Satanico and Perro feud seems to be heating up as well, I've heard houses are really good with them headlining shows on opposing teams. As for your question, CMLL runs 6-8 shows a week on a weekly schedule. Every Friday night they run their big "Super Viernes" i.e. Super Friday show at Arena Mexico and show highlights on the TV. That is what you are watching. What is interesting is that they own Arena Mexico themselves. Dave Metlzer

A kind of ridiculous article. http://www.sportskeeda.com/wwe/why-people-like-dave-meltzer-are-ruining-pro-wrestling

Fuji brought Yokozuna the World Title and Demolition the Tag Titles, that's a pretty good record compared to most WWF guys. Hart, Heenan, Slick, Johnny V none of those won the big belt.

I think there is as much a trend towards bringing wrestling to its roots as their is towards danger. Fred Yehi, Timothy Thatcher, etc... are mat based guys. Matt Riddle isn't about wowing the crowd. Also, is WWE really down? Network subs are up.

I've got a new MOTY This title match is worked more like a mask match. The rudo just kills him to the point the crowd interjects three times: blocking the rudo from attacking more, giving the tecnico water, and finally distracting the referee while the rudo has on a submission. The crowd is great and the intensity is there. Awesome awesome shit!!

Pentagon Jr, Hector Garza Jr and Daga all left AAA last weekend and jumped to The Crash Lucha Libre. They proceeded to have a really fun muli man tag against The Hardys, Juventud, Psicosis, Super Crazy, and others. What does this mean for Lucha Undeground, no more Pentagon? All of this is very fascinating. Also Pentagon Jr is now going by Pentagon El 0M and teaming with Fenix as Los Lucha Brothers.

Shockingly I loved a AAA match between Hector Garza Jr and Hijo del Phantasma. Its hand held and the crowd is hot! Dramatic. Big moves plus some noce intensity shown. Probably like *** 3/4

I'm going to split the difference and go with ****. I thought it was a nice match that built up the violence well with some real sick spots. However the aura of danger was not there like the first match. If Crazy bleed a little more or if Tairi was a little more psychotic this would had been at the level of the previous match. Still a great match, but suffers by comparison.

ROH trailing so far behind on pushing women is a turn off too. Either don't have them or push them.

Yeah, so was that the height of popularity or quality? There isn't a HUGE amount of that stuff out there.

What makes the 50s the best wrestler period in the US?

That's ridiculous. There is nothing to criticize in their booking? It boggles your mind when someone does?

I'm taking requests for which two matches appear on Television this week.

Super Viernes January 18, 1985 Arena Mexico Mexico City, Mexico Match 1: Gran Cochisse y Tony Acre y Vulcano contra Negro Casas y Talisman y Moguro 1. Negro Casas sub Tony Acre (3:02) Talisman pin Vulcano (3:03) 2. Tony Acre pin Talisman (4:25) Gran Cochisse pin Moguro (4:28) 3. Negro Casas pin Gran Cochisse (11:42) Winner: rudos (1/3) Match Time: 19:12 Match 2: Valente Fernandez y Ringo Mendoza y Cachorro Mendoza contra Emilio Charles Jr. y Chris Adams y Gino Hernandez 1. Emilio Charles Jr. pin Valente Fernandez (6:56) 2. Chris Adams pin Ringo Mendoza (8:20) Gino Hernandez pin Cachorro Mendoza (8:21) Winner: rudos (1/2) Match Time: 15:17 Match 3: Solar y Super Astro y Ultraman contra Los Villanos (III y IV y V) 1. Solar sub Villano III (7:48) 2. Villano IV pin Super Astro (3:20) Villano V pin Ultraman (3:24) 3. Villano III pin Solar (13:49) Winner: rudos (2/3) Match Time: 25:01 Semi-Main Event: Los Brazos (Brazo de Oro y Brazo de Plata y El Brazo) contra Jerry Estrada y Espanto Jr. y Kato Kung Lee 1. Kato Kung Lee sub Brazo de Oro (5:52) 2. Brazo de Plata pin Jerry Estrada (8:25) 3. Brazo de Oro sub Kato Kung Lee (12:30) El Brazo pin Espanto Jr. (12:32) Winner: tecnicos (2/3) Match Time: 26:47 Main Event: Cien Caras y Perro Aguayo contra El Satanico y MS-1 1. MS-1 pin Cien Caras (5:02) 2. Perro Aguayo DQ Satanico (7:48) 3. Perro Aguayo pin Satanico (9:25) Winner: tecnicos (2/3) Match Time: 22:15

Thanks for getting this up on the feed and a really enjoyable listen. I guess Allie-Rosermary in a cage that I saw live was a vanity pick for me. After watching 18 months of the feud ending in this great match, i couldn't exclude it from my list. Also, I'll admit it I did some strategic voting. The Toronto tag and Trauma-Lupus were a huge internal debate for my on which should be #1. I was live in Toronto, so it had that bias, but I gave it to Trauma-Lupus for strategic reasons. I could see either #1, but strategy won out.

Easily 1988-1997. The tale end of the great 80s period with 89 included, all the way up to 1997 which was epic before things fell off a big in 98.

Got tickets for Lucha TO in Toronto on the day of the Royal Rumble, but Musgrave cancelled on me... so either going solo or figuring something else out.

Enough to steal AJ, Nakamura, and Gallows//Anderson last year.How do you "steal" human beings who are making their own choices? Especially Gallows, Anderson, and AJ , who have stated that they were tired of being away from their families. It's like when people say Vince "raided" the territories. As if he and Pat were kidnapping talent during night time incursions and tossing them in a big burlap sack. It's a figure of speech.

Just about the greatest rudo team you can imagine.. plus it pairs up the two best feuds in CMLL! This furthers the two feuds very well, but is also awesome in it's own right. At one point Satanico is biting Tarzan Boy's fingers and the referee tries to stop it, and Satanico bites the ref's fingers!! Another spot I loved is Fuerza Guerrera going for a top rope splash, but his opponent was too far away and he just didn't make it. Satanico is the most evil and vile human on the planet and he is so great, the TB-Satanico feud may have over shadowed V3-Atlantis here. Poor TB went for a dive near the end, but Fuerza moved and he hit the floor and injured his leg. Doctors helped him out as Atlantis submitted V3. I'll go *** 1/2, I really dug this.