stunning_grover

I think Ricky Steamboat is the best babyface. One of the reasons is that I think it's almost impossible to imagine him as a heel. He never worked as a heel and he was always the good guy who was loved by the fans. He dedicated his quest for the world heavyweight title to his son and he is a real family man. He is just a great old school type babyface. Back in those days, you didn't have to be "cool" and have "attitude" to be babyface. And when it came to his promos and interviews, there was just something about the way he talked that made you believe he was truly a good guy. Also, I think the way he sold in his matches helped him to win even more sympathy from the crowd.

I wasn't talking about the past few years. I was talking about the fact that when TAKA Michinoku went to WWF, it was a drastic change for his work. So, I actually do think that his time in WWF had that negative effect on his work. TAKA's peak was 1996/1997, in my opinion. When he went to WWF, he seemingly became more concerned about showing up with an Austin 3:16 shirt and giving people the bird than to be the TAKA we knew. And that's when he slowly started to decline. He may have recovered from it in more recent years, but around 1998 it sure was disappointing to see the impact his WWF run was having on his work. A better example is probably Shoichi Funaki. I mean, WWE Funaki sure isn't Funaki at his best.

That's right. Remember what happened to TAKA Michinoku when he went to WWF? He learned that hard and good in-ring work is not necessary. He was never the same after that.

I made the WWF/WWE statements to show that it's not like I never liked the company. So, I wasn't necessarily talking about in-ring product there. I was more referring to the overall feel of the shows (and yes, also the booking). By the way, I know WWF attitude era is different from current WWE era, but I don't like either era (although I think WWF attitude era is much worse). Anyway, like I said, it's not like I think it's impossible to have your best years in WWE. I mentioned Tajiri as example. But I also think Chris Jericho is much better now than he was in the early years of his career. Man, if the "typical WWE worker" were as good as Rey has been since signing with them, I'd probably still watch all their weekly programming. But that aside, people making more measured criticisms of Rey acknowledge that he's done well adjusting to the "WWE style", but still aren't interested in his current work because they find that style dull. I wonder how exactly they would define that style, and why it would tend to make matches in that style dull. I think that El-P, who made the comment, meant that Rey Jr. basically "lowered" himself by adapting to the WWE style. If so, I agree with him. Of course, Rey Jr. is one of the top five workers in WWE right now, so it's not like he is the average WWE worker in terms of quality... but still he is a typical WWE worker (who just happens to be way better than the average worker on the roster) in that he changed his style in favour of the WWE style. And how to define WWE style... I'm not sure how to define it, but 2000s WWE style sure isn't the same as 1995/1996 AAA style. I know that in the end it's all subjective, but I definitely prefer 1995/1996 AAA style over 2000s WWE style. By the way, I understand that Rey Jr. basically "had to" change his style... and I understand that this changing of style was a process that had already started in WCW around 1998/1999... but that doesn't change the fact that he is not the Rey Jr. from 1995/1996, which is the Rey Jr. I prefer.

I agree that Rey Jr.'s WCW matches were generally too short, including the famous Halloween Havoc 1997 match. And you're right, nitpicking about time is unimportant. But I diagree with 1996 Rey Jr. not being able to have matches against Mark Henry on the level of 2006 Rey Jr.'s matches with Mark Henry. They matches would be different, but I don't see why 1996 Rey Jr. wouldn't have been able to pull off a match of at least similar quality. People are talking about 1996 Rey Jr. as if he completely didn't understand anything about psychology, but I think that's wrong. Sure, he may have learned things over the years, but in 1996, he was already telling great stories. The difference is that in 1996, his style was different and more high flying and that makes it seem like there is less psychology involved. About Hansen and Vader, I think that Hansen making Vader's eye pop out was worse than anything Vader has ever done. With Vader, you knew you were going to be in for a fight. With Hansen, you just never knew what could happen. Liking or disliking WWE has nothing to do with it. By the way, I actually like 1984 WWF through 1995 WWF (but it's true that I don't like 1998 WWF through current WWE). But again, this has nothing to do with it. For example, I am not claiming that Tajiri had his peak prior to WWE (because I think his best work was in WWE). But it's just that I really believe that Rey Jr.'s best work was his 1995-1996 AAA work (and also his 1996 ECW and 1996 WCW work was really good). And I agree that it's hard to compare babyfaces with each other, but like someone already mentioned, sometimes you just have to try to make comparisons in things like polls. Anyway, maybe it's time for a new comparison? Bret Hart or Owen Hart?

What are some of these great AAA Rey matches that make him better then than he is now? I can't think of one that was better than Rey/Eddy from Smackdown in June 05. His AAA stuff was good but hasn't really held up well. The feud with Juvi especially hasn't held up. The cage match they had was horrible and very ECW like. In WWE he's able to adapt to different guys like Ziggler, Knox, Hart Dynasty etc. and have good matches with them. It's not like in AAA when he was facing guys that had a similar style(Juvi, Psicosis, Perro Jr., Eddy etc). As for Eddy's work in Los Gringos Locos, it's one of my favorite groups ever but none of those matches were better than his WCW 1997 and WWE 2005 matches. Octagon/Santo vs LGL has been REALLY overrated over time. The match that's on the PWO comp is way better and even that I wouldn't call a great match. Rey Jr. having "good" 5-minute WWE style matches with the current WWE workers isn't really a great thing, in my opinion. But again, I like Rey Jr. and I'm happy he is so successful now, but when I think of Rey Jr.'s best work, I think of his AAA work (and even his ECW and early WCW work).The feud between Rey Jr. and Juventud Guerrera may not have held up over time, but it was really considered great stuff at the time. Things were a lot different in 1996, it was really a transitional year for pro wresting. I like the cage match, although I fully understand the dislike for it. But I still think their 4/21/1995 match is a great match and doesn't come across as dated. I think Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. from 9/22/1995 is probably the best Rey Misterio Jr. match ever. I vaguely remember the Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr. matches from 2005, but I don't recall them being special performances on the part of Rey Jr. The first thing I think of when trying to think back of those matches is that it will always amaze me that Eddy was basically a great wrestler for almost his entire career. Eddy's work with Gringos Locos may not have produced a series of great matches, but most of those matches where not right settings for great matches (for example, a lot of times there were just some brawling type six man tag matches with Eddy and Art Barr teaming with Konnan that were not designed to have a match-of-the-year type match), but that doesn't mean that Eddy's work wasn't great... some of the little things he did really added a lot to the matches. Anyway, I never claimed that those matches were his greatest matches ever, but I just think we shouldn't forget that in 1993/1994, Eddy was a great wrestler who performed as good as he possibly could in matches in Japan and Mexico. The AAA six-man tag matches weren't always the right settings for what we today perceive as great matches (especially when guys like Konnan were involved). The When Worlds Collide match between Eddy/Art vs. Octagon/Hijo del Santo is overrated, that's true (still, it was a historic match)... but that match probably would have been better if the match time wasn't cut down (it was originally supposed to last longer). The Eddy/Art vs. Octagon/Hijo del Santo match from 12/05/1993 is indeed way better than the When Worlds Collide match, but I think it's actually a great match. Which is another thing that bugged me. Sure, the WWF's definition of a "technical wrestler" is a bit different than most places. But still, Bret did a lot of punching. Punching and punching and punching and then some stomping for variety. Listening to the announcers gush about Bret's scientific skills while he kept resorting to fisticuffs, not an ideal situation to make me admire the guy's technique. Same thing with Kurt Angle even at his peak, too. That's right. They should've called Bret a "thinking man's wrestler" or something like that (that would make a lot more sense). I like Bret, but he is definitely not an impressive technical wrestler. I recently watched the Bret Hart & Owen Hart vs. Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner match from 1994, and it was interesting to see that Owen and the Steiners kind of outclassed Bret.

I still think that Rey Jr.’s WWE work is typical WWE work and therefore not great (sure, he’s better than most of the roster, but still not as good as he was in 1995/1996). His WWE matches may be more accessible now and easier to watch (and may fit the shoe of what a good match is supposed to be in the 2000s better), but I find them not very interesting compared to his more unique matches from 1995/1996. And about Eddy Guerrero... His work in Mexico is underrated (don’t forget that he was a major part of Los Gringos Locos, one of the hottest heel acts in history). His early US babyface work was surprisingly over with the crowd and he was one of the two best workers in WCW at the time. His Japanese work was mostly very impressive (I really wouldn’t call it a “mixed bag”... sure he had one very disappointing match with Great Sasuke in 1996, and he didn’t have four-star matches all the time, but that can happen). And yes, he struggled when he joined WWE, but he managed to succeed, against all odds... Some people may think that Rey Jr. faced bigger odds... but let’s face it... Eddy was a drug addicted alcoholic who saw his life falling apart, was mistreated by WCW’s booking, and still managed to be a big success, while Rey Jr. has been an accessible and popular wrestler (he’s a natural babyface... he has a reputation for exciting moves, and because of his size, the kids think he’s cute), received the biggest push of the Mexicans in WCW, and owes a great deal of his current success to Eddy. I see the Rey Misterio Jr. situation more as a Sabu situation. I know they have different styles, but both are workers who were really exciting when they were "discovered" . Remember how people were talking about how great Sabu was in 1993/1994 and then just a few years later, some of those very same people started talking about how bad Sabu was? Sabu is not a great wrestler and he definitely isn't as good as Rey Jr. (that's why we are still talking about Rey Jr. in a positive way and not much about Sabu), but in 1993/1994, Sabu was “new” and exciting. In 1994/1995, Rey Jr. was “new” and exciting... Yeah, Rey Jr. may have improved some aspects of his work, but he also lost the main aspect of his appeal (he is now just another typical WWE worker). By the way, I think Rey Jr. is much more doing the same old thing in WWE than he did in AAA. His matches in WWE are more similar to each other than his matches in AAA. And I don't understand why people are talking about how much he has improved as an all-round worker. Some people are talking like the fact that he isn’t using as many high flying moves as in the past automatically means that he is now a better babyface storyteller in the ring. By the way, Rey Jr. was always a good storyteller, only in the past, he combined it with great high flying (he was never a high spot machine or something, he had good psychology)... now he combines it with typical WWE work. Sure, he has learned many things over the years (but that's to be expected)... still, it's not like he changed into a Ricky Steamboat or something. So, I still don't see what's so special about Rey Jr. being able to work WWE matches. I mean, if KENTA would come to WWE and change his style to WWE style... would you all be talking about how much KENTA has improved then as well? I understand everyone is happy to see a worker like Rey Jr. on current tv shows (he is clearly one of the five best workers in WWE right now)… but in years from now, I think if we will look back on the career of Rey Jr., it will be obvious that his work in AAA was the most crucial and best part of his career. His run in WWE will just be remembered as a nice extension of his career, which deserves some credit, but doesn’t mean it’s better than anything he has ever done. By the way, I agree with “Frankensteiner”, who mentioned that Bob Backlund, Tito Santana, Randy Savage, and Bret Hart were better at working as faces for the WWF/WWE than Rey Jr. and that Tito Santana vs. Greg Valentine, and Bret Hart vs. Owen Hart were better than Rey Jr.’s feud with Eddy Guerrero. Eddy Guerrero vs. Rey Misterio Jr... Eddy Guerrero is one of the greatest workers this world has ever seen. He could work all over the world and have an excellent match in seemingly any style. He was a great heel and a great babyface. You could send him to EMLL, AAA, NJPW, ECW, WCW, WWF/WWE, England, and the independents in the US... then he would adapt himself to the environment and send everyone home with a smile on their faces knowing that Eddy’s match was a lot of fun to watch. In the late 1980s/early 1990s, he was a young lucha libre style worker who was improving every year. In 1989, he was already good enough to have WCW fly him in to work against Terry Funk for a squash match. In 1992, he had his first tour in New Japan (where he first met Chris Benoit) and was so impressive that he continued to be booked on tours for 4 years straight. In 1993 he finally got his big break in Mexico in AAA when he teamed up with Love Machine (Art Barr). In 1993/1994, he was having great matches in Japan and Mexico... and actually combined the Mexican lucha libre style with the Japanese NJPW junior heavyweight style. In 1995, he went to ECW and managed to get people crying in the arena when it was announced that he would leave the promotion. In 1995, he went to WCW and was one of the most over babyfaces, against all odds. In 1997, he turned heel and managed to improve his superstar status in the United States. In the mean time, he was also going through major personal problems (drugs, alcohol etc.), but still managed to perform at an amazing level in the ring. When he had his 2002 "back-from-rehab year", he went to the independents and had really good matches with many different kind of workers. He even went back to New Japan and showed that he could still go (it wasn't as good as his work from the 1990s, but then again... wrestling all from over the world during the 2000s wasn't as good as during the 1990s, so he was still one of the best). And amazingly, the 5'7" Mexican wrestler became one of the major stars of the WWE. And Rey Misterio Jr... Well, you already know what I think of him (see my comments on Rey Jr.). I like Rey Jr. and he's very good, but he’s not even close to the level of Eddy Guerrero. KENTA vs. Marufuji... I’m not all that familiar with these guys, so, I’ll keep this one short. But I’d just like to mention that from what I’ve seen, I get the impression that KENTA is better. Stan Hansen vs. Vader... When I think of Vader, I remember a whole bunch of great Vader matches that I enjoyed... even though I wasn't a fan of his at the time (shame on me). But looking back... He was great in WCW (for example, I love his match vs. Flair). He was great in UWF-I (his matches vs. Takada were excellent). And even after the WWF buried him, he managed to return to All Japan as a top star. I really like that run he had in 1998/1999 in All Japan (which started with him teaming with Stan Hansen). I never was as much of a Vader fan as most people seem to be, but I've started to appreciate his work more and more lately. When I think of Stan Hansen, I think of his work in All Japan. He was a major star in All Japan and people were going crazy for him. He is probably one of the three most popular foreign wrestlers ever in Japan. Hansen is apparently as blind as a bat and runs into people with crazy stiffness. I think he is a dangerous worker because of this fact. But, of course, I understand that is a major part of his appeal. Then again... Vader also has incredible stiffness and I think Vader is a better all-round worker, because he doesn’t necessarily have to rely on stiffness (while I feel that Hansen kind of has to rely on it). I think Stan Hansen had far more disappointing matches than Vader ever had. Even during Vader’s WWF run, which was the most disappointing part of his career (mostly because of WWF’s booking), he managed to hang on and still be somewhat of a credible worker. I think with Vader's matches, generally speaking, you kind of know you will get something good. But with Hansen, you just have to wait and see. Yes, you'll see a lot of stiff work from Hansen, but sometimes his matches are just very disappointing. Hansen was a pretty smart worker, but I think Vader was a smarter worker as he managed to get more out of his matches. I doubt Stan Hansen would be able to do what Vader did in WCW in 1992/1993, have matches with Takada in UWF-I of the quality Vader had, get buried by WWF and manage to return to Japan with the impact Vader made when he came back in 1998. Sure, Stan Hansen had the famous matches against Kenta Kobashi in 1993... but Kenta Kobashi in 1993 was arguably one of the three very best workers in the world (and that says a lot, because 1993 was a hot year with workers like Akira Hokuto, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, and Vader all being awesome). I think Stan Hansen managed to survive so long in Japan mostly because of his charisma and popularity, not so much because of his ability. The Japanese crowd loved his gimmick and they respect him, because he is a legend. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying he didn't have the ability... but I just think he didn't have the career that Vader had when it comes to in-ring quality. Vader worked in so many different environments and always managed to succeed (even his WWF run could have been much worse, if he wasn't as good as he was). I noticed that some people were talking about Vader as if he is some kind of routine worker and that his bumping and selling is sometimes unrealistic. But, hey... this is pro wrestling. Of course, there are many similarities between Vader’s matches, but isn’t that the case with so many other great wrestlers as well? I’d rather see a “same old” Vader match (but I really don’t consider Vader to be a “by the numbers” worker or something like that) than a different and disappointing Hansen match (and there have been quite some of those). By the way... why is Vader doing his typical spots regarded as “routine” and “the same”, while Hansen’s same old brawling thing is “less routine” and “versatile”? I really don’t consider Hansen to be that versatile at all... I doubt Hansen could have the same quality matches against Sting, Takada etc. as Vader had. Hansen needed someone he could have a stiff match with... someone like Kobashi for example. Vader, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily need to have a certain type of opponent. He had really good matches with different types of opponents in different types of promotions. By the way, I think Vader’s 1993 was even better than Hansen’s 1993. Personally, I feel that 1981 was Stan Hansen’s best year. I think his 1993 year may look better at first sight, simply because 1993 All Japan is one of the greatest things this earth has ever witnessed. About the Hansen vs. Inoki match... it was not uncommon for Inoki to have a big match of high quality like that in the 1970s/1980s. Inoki could still go and the opposition usually stepped up their own game a notch or two. However, it was very uncommon and almost a miracle that Inoki had a great match in 1996... and guess what, that was a match with Vader. So, yeah... I'm definitely going with Vader. Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels... Always an interesting discussion. Bret Hart is one of the most respected wrestlers ever. Even though he was not as good a technical wrestler as he thinks he was and the WWF tried to portray him as... he was still a very solid worker. He was a slow learner, but had a tremendous learning environment (Calgary) to provide him with all the necessary basics. He was one of the sons of a wrestling promoter and had the opportunity to work with Dynamite Kid, who was arguably the very best worker in the world at that time. He had some very good matches with Dynamite Kid in the late 1970s/early 1980s, which were the best matches of his early years. But even Bruce Hart had good matches with Dynamite Kid at that time, so, Bret was more like a Davey Boy Smith type worker at that time (he was able to hang in there with the right opposition, but not able to carry the work himself). When he joined WWF in 1984, he slowly started to improve and slowly became a more solid worker over the years. By the late 1980s, he had become one of the best workers of the company. In 1991, he finally got his singles push and that’s when things started to look only better for him. In 1992, he had an awesome year. He carried Davey Boy Smith, who was totally drugged out of his mind, to one of the best matches in WWF history. Not long after that, he finally became the WWF world heavyweight champion and was basically officially recognised as one of the best in the world. In 1994, he had the famous feud against his younger brother Owen. In 1996, he had the famous iron man match against Shawn Michaels. In 1997, he managed to become a top heel. After the infamous Montreal incident, he moved to WCW and still managed to impress, even though the WCW was a mess. Bret Hart was an excellent wrestler. The best thing about Bret is that he makes you believe him. He makes you believe that he really is excellent. You can feel it from the way he talks, walks and works. He is a very convincing performer. But in the end... if you manage to look at it from a perspective other than Bret’s, he really isn’t much of a technical wrestler at all and his work is excellent, but not great... he certainly isn’t the “best there is, was, and ever will be” (but I admit that he is the “excellence of execution”... his execution is excellent). But let’s talk about Shawn Michaels. When he was part of the Rockers, he was a young and athletic worker who, along with his partner Marty Jannetty, was one of the more spectacular wrestlers at the time. He managed to remain one of the most spectacular wrestlers throughout his entire career. The Rockers are one of the best tag teams in history. Shawn had a good singles run in 1992, which showed that he was able to be a top singles wrestler. In 1994, he had the awesome ladder match, which was the match where he really proofed he was one of the very best workers in the world. In 1995, he turned babyface, because he simply became too popular. He had a great babyface run. As WWF champion in 1996, he managed to keep the WWF alive when the WCW was really hot with the arrival of Scott Hall, Kevin Nash, and the interesting cruiserweight division. If it wasn’t for Shawn Michaels, 1996 WWF would have been a disaster. In 1997 he had the awesome Hell in a Cell match against Undertaker. He retired in 1998, because of a major back injury. He returned in 2002, and managed to be very successful again. From 2002 through 2009, Shawn Michaels was one of the very few reasons to watch WWE. At WrestleMania XXV, he had another awesome match against Undertaker. I think it’s amazing that Shawn Michaels has such a long and successful career. And now it looks like he is currently in his final 7 months or so of his career, but what a career this man has had. Say what you want about him... many people don’t like him, because of his gimmick, because of his backstage behaviour, because it’s not cool to like him etc. etc. But... Shawn Michaels will always be remembered as one of the greatest that ever lived, whether you like it or not. So... as much as I like Bret Hart, I’m going with Shawn Michaels. I would like to throw in the following comparison, if that’s okay... Who was better... Bret Hart or Owen Hart? I’m interested in how people will compare these two brothers. Both had such different careers... Bret had a long peak, Owen had a short peak... Bret had a late peak, Owen had his peak early in his career... Bret had a great push, Owen was very underrated... etc. I’m curious how you think those factors influence the overall ranking of the two next to the difference in actual in-ring ability.

Jeff Hardy vs. Lex Luger I have been somewhat of a Jeff Hardy fan since his days as WWF jobber in 1995. I liked the way he seem to work harder and bump wilder than almost all of the other jobbers (except for the Black Phantom). When he finally started to get his push in 1999, I had already lost interest in WWF (I really dislike 1998-2001), but I was happy to see that he finally got his push. Anyway, he is a pretty good worker who is just a little sloppy. Nothing really special, but still worth watching most of the time. Lex Luger gets more hate than he deserves. He wasn't a great worker, but he wasn't nearly as bad as some people try to make you believe. He also seems to have a reputation for being in the business just for the money, but I'm sure he is not the only one. So... Hardy or Luger? Both are not the greatest, but definitely not the worst either. In the end, I think I'd have to go with Luger, who seemed to be a little bit better as a worker and also a safer worker. Hardy is just a little bit too sloppy. Also, Luger was better at more serious old school type matches, while Hardy is better suited for shorter and more modern high spot oriented matches. Hardy is really good for the current WWE product, but from an all time perspective, Luger is better. Interestingly enough, I do consider myself somewhat of a Jeff Hardy fan, but not really a Lex Luger fan... still I'd rather watch a Luger match than a Hardy match, which I guess says a lot. Luger's matches are generally speaking better than Hardy's matches, in my opinion. Hardy falling off of ladders looks pretty cool, but it doesn't make him a better wrestler. Jeff Jarrett vs. Kurt Angle There was a time when Kurt Angle was ridiculously overrated (but this seems to have changed in more recent times). Seemingly everybody was talking about how awesome he was. I never really understood all the love Angle got. People talked about Angle as if he was on the same level as Eddy Guerrero and Chris Benoit. But Angle was just a decent worker who was able to work WWE type matches and somehow convinced people into thinking that he was a really awesome worker. His hype was just the trend of the time, I suppose. Jeff Jarrett is better than Angle and less irritating than Angle (which says a lot, I guess, because the man who once claimed to be the world's greatest entertainer isn't exactly that entertaining). Jarrett's style is mostly suited for USWA style matches, but he managed to be successful in other promotions as well. Personally, I never really cared much for him. But I actually thought his 1994-1995 WWF run as a midcard heel was pretty good. His best match ever was his match against Shawn Michaels in July 1995 at In Your House 2. Angle's best match was also against Shawn Michaels, but I don't like that one as much as the Jarrett vs. Michaels match. Anyway, I'm definitely picking Jarrett. Angle had a short and overrated prime. Jarrett had a longer and better prime. And in the future, I think Jarrett will be remember more and also in a more positive way than Angle. Dean Malenko vs. Chris Candido Dean Malenko was very good, but he was also very overrated (by the people on the internet). Chris Candido was very good, but he was also very underrated (by a lot of people). So, this is an interesting comparison. And this is a though call. But in the end, I think I'd have to go with Candido. I think he was more versatile and entertaining. Malenko was very good at the Malenko style matches, but those matches are overrated and he was less good at changing his style in favour of his opponents. For example, I remember a really disappointing Malenko vs. Psicosis match from World War III 1996 among other disappointing Malenko matches. When I saw this comparison listed, I was almost sure I was going to choose Malenko (this probably had to do with some of his New Japan work vs. Benoit I watched recently). But after thinking a bit longer, I realised how underrated Candido really was and that he was actually quite a lot better than Malenko. Psicosis vs. Rey Misterio Jr. Always an interesting comparison, espcially when there's people who watched a lot of AAA involved in the discussions. Psicosis was so much better than Rey Misterio Jr. in AAA. He was one of the reasons that Misterio looked so great. Rey obviously ended up having a more successful career, but that's a bit unfair because he is only one of four Mexican wrestlers who ever got a good push in the United States (Psicosis and all the others got buried). Still, I think Misterio should be thankful for how great Psicosis made him look during 1992-1996. Those were crucial years in Rey's career and I'm not sure if he would be so popular and successful today if it weren't for his feuds with Psicosis in the past. Also, don't forget about Juventud Guerrera. WCW loved making it seem like Rey was way better than Psicosis and Juventud, but in reality, they were all pretty close to each other in terms of quality. But unfortunately, Psicosis and Juventud got buried almost immediately when they entered WCW. Juventud and Misterio had some very interesting matches together in AAA, which definitely wasn't all about Rey. I think the best matches Psicosis, Rey, and Juventud ever had were the matches they had against each other in AAA. On a side note, back in the days of the "greatest wrestler ever" poll on Smarkschoice, I made a controversial statement about how I felt that Rey was not one of the 100 greatest wrestlers of all time (while I felt that Psicosis was one of the 100 greatest of all time). And I think I would still not place Rey in my top 100, while I would definitely would still put Psicosis in my top 100. I know people love Rey's WWE work, but I still enjoy his AAA work a lot better. I admit that he is one of the more enjoyable workers in WWE and the kids love him. He plays his babyface role perfectly (but he has always done that). Some aspects of his work may have improved over the years, which means he is a very good wrestler (but this doesn't make him a great wrestler from an all time perspective). The greatest thing about Rey's career was his 1993-1996 AAA work (and arguably also his ECW and even his early WCW work in 1996), because that was when he was so new and refreshing. He was an amazing high flyer who had people talk about him all the time. But in WWE, he is just another WWE worker who adapted to the WWE style... big deal. The entire aspect of Rey's appeal has disappeared. He is no longer the young and exciting wrestler who gets thrown around by Psicosis and manages to fight back with incredible never before seen high flying moves. Those days are gone. In my opinion, Rey's best years was 1992-1996 and Psicosis' best years were also 1992-1996. Psicosis was just crazy in AAA. He was a wild bumper who was a great base for the high flying wrestlers. I think Psicosis was more all-round than Rey, because Psicosis seemed to add a lot more to the matches than Rey. Psicosis would not only bump like a madman, but he would also try to add rudo brawling and some matwork to the (six man tag) matches he participated in. Psicosis also seemed to add more in terms of charisma and getting heat. Rey was just really good at playing the young technico who got thrown around by the rudos and eventually tried to fight back with his unique high flying offense.

Blood Capsule? He's gonna expose the business. :-( Wonder if they'll start blading in other sports? Or like in American Idol or something.. Blading already happened in other sports. About seven years ago, I remember someone posted an article on DVDVR about an African soccer match (I believe it was in Ghana) where someone bladed. The article described how a player tried to fool the referee by using a razorblade to draw blood from his forehead to make it seem like he had been attacked.

Shawn and Marty talked about it on the Shawn Michaels "Heartbreak and Triumph" dvd set. They enjoyed hanging out together until their friendship started to deteriorate (which was in 1991, I guess). And the fight was apparently the incident that made them think about breaking up the Rockers tag team (and Shawn also wanted to go singles anyway). So, I think it was never really a case where they couldn't stand each other. It was more a case of two men being tired of spending almost every day with each other for years and years.

Who were they channeling?

Could you tell me which episode it was (or at least what some of the matches were on that episode)? Because I want to check it out...

Any news about the interview?

Is the story about Terry changing the finish and doing the job for Dory without anyone knowing (including Dory) in their 54-minute one-on-one match against each other from All Japan on April 30, 1981 true?

I was in attendance at the RAW taping in London, England on April 20 and I can tell you that the original finish of the Kane vs. CM Punk went down a bit different than the version aired on tv. The original finish of the Kane vs. CM Punk match was botched up. Lilian Garcia announced CM Punk as the winner. But, the referee apparently told CM Punk to go back into the ring and do the finish over again. Kane pushed CM Punk and tried to choke slam him. And then they did the finish that was shown on tv. CM Punk pinned Kane for a second time and Lilian Garcia announced CM Punk as the winner for the second time. So, the last 4 seconds of the match of the finish shown on tv was actually the second time CM Punk pinned Kane in a row (they had two pinfalls within a period of about 60 seconds). If you don't believe me... in the tv version of this match, you can see that during the last 4 seconds of the match, almost all of the fans in the front row are standing all of a sudden... while just one second earlier, everyone was still seated. That is because about 60 seconds has been edited out (this includes the botched up finish, Lilian Garcia announcing CM Punk as the winner for the first time and CM Punk going back into the ring and Kane confronting him again). By the way, most of the fans in attendance didn't really mind seeing CM Punk pin Kane twice in a row... but some of them seemed a bit confused. Anyway, not sure if anyone cares. But this is the random comments thread after all...

I'm happy with the matches they've picked.

Okay. Cool.

Missy Hyatt on Eddie Gilbert's booking

I'm glad that Todd Grisham is not going to host the DVD, because that would have caused me to seriously consider not buying the DVD (and I'm not kidding here). But since he is not going to host the DVD (thank goodness), I'm going to buy this DVD regardless of what they put on it as I'm just happy there is going to be a Randy Savage DVD after all. Anyway, I'm not sure this is going to be a 3-disc set. Originally, it was scheduled to be a 3-disc set to be released in November. But that was cancelled. Now there will be this DVD to be released on June 9. But I'm not sure it will be a 3-disc set and like some people have mentioned already, it will apparently not have a documentary part. Does anyone know if it has been confirmed whether or not this release will be a 3-disc set? By the way, I hope they include a lot of his promos and interviews. The best thing would be two disc with matches and one disc with promos and interviews.

According to Jim Ross' blog, the WWE will release a Randy Savage DVD on June 9. As Jim Ross mentioned in his blog, it will probably have the Savage vs. Steamboat match from WrestleMania III on it. But what other matches do you think should be on there?

I recently finished reading Bret's book. And it is definitely one of my favourite wrestling books. I think I'll start reading it for the second time soon. There's many interesting stories in it. One of the many things I found interesting was how Bret felt that "his" ladder match was stolen by Shawn Michaels who went on to have a ladder match at WrestleMania X. That was the first time he mentioned Shawn in a negative way. It seemed that Bret and Shawn didn't have any problems up until that time. They real problems between Bret and Shawn seemed to start in 1996 around Shawn's first title reign. I guess that's when Shawn's behaviour got worse. And about Flair... Bret clearly explained that he was expecting a lot from Flair after so many people (including Dave Meltzer) called Flair one of the greatest wrestlers. But when Bret and Flair had their first match, it was a disappointing one that even featured a blown finish. According to Bret, Flair complained that it was Bret's fault that the finish was botched and Bret didn't like to hear that (especially because he felt that it was Flair's fault). So it seemed that's where Bret's disliking for Flair started. But yeah, it seems that Bret just didn't like Flair's style.

Did this make tape? Not expecting much considering the timeframe, but I still wanna see Ricky Morton and Toshiaka Kawada in the same ring. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXxRD3fEAvQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10FdEH5KNhU

1988-06-10. NJPW. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch vs. Billy Gasper (Bob Orton Jr.) & Barry Gasper (Barry Orton). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhfATZcLHFs 1988-06-19. NJPW. Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch vs. Masa Saito & Big Van Vader http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Domfk4f9NBg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3RmTorRY5s

Well, judging from this DVD set, it looks like WWE and Randy Savage are on good terms again. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this DVD set. The only real flaw of the set is the fact there are some 2006 matches on it and I definitely won't be watching those matches. But other than that, it should be just about as good as a WWE DVD set can get.

Thanks for sharing the Missy Hyatt columns. I love reading them.