WrestlingPower

Whether it's 5% or more of his voter pool, the point still stands about how in touch he may or may not be to solicit new opinions. It sounds like online writers who happen to be published on his site have a much greater advantage than people much more knowledgeable or more well versed that may choose to stick to their own sites/message boards. They also could be more likely to trumpet Dave's opinions rather than bring diverse ones. If that exact same person was an indy wrestlers does that make him more qualified? I hardly think so but it seems that way since then they would be "in the business". The comparison to a sports HOF to me doesn't match up here. Wrestling isn't covered in the press like any other sport. Precious few historians and/or reporters of wrestling would be considered "professional" by the definition of being paid for or making a living from covering wrestling. You really have no choice but to choose from knowledgable correspondents whether they are internet bloggers or not.

Whether fair or not, since Dave isn't limiting voters to their region's candidates, the only way the voting makes sense would be to count anyone who votes for a Japanese (for example) to be in that region. The really curious thing now becomes, even though this is unlikely to ever happen, he states that a voter can opt to vote for no one. If that's the case, how does he count that? If a non-Mexican expert's vote doesn't count against Mexicans he doesn't vote for, but does count for Mexicans he does vote for, then how would a "no vote for anyone" count any differently? I'm also concerned that if Dave truly is so strictly assigning voters to certain regions & subsets, he must really think he knows his voters & their preferences. It seems like a lot of the voters are old sheet readers he's known for 20 years. I would bet a lot of them don't follow NEARLY as much wrestling as they used to, or most certainly have narrowed their scope. Why is their vote any more important than someone who's been an internet reporter for 10+ years covering lots of regions & watching lots of footage that Dave doesn't even watch anymore? Is there a nominating committee for those to recieve ballots? I'm just curious how one would even get on Dave's radar to start receiving ballots. There's a lot of intelligent discussion on the internet from some knowledgable people that probably have more insight than some of the current voters.

I agree with the above. And yes, I think it might tarnish his legacy in some fans' eyes but it's not like Flair returning to the ring probably isn't a bigger deal to some people and I would assume he would only consider doing this for similar reasons. And all of this pales in comparison to what happened in June 2007 and what that did to the fanbase's thoughts on a certain worker's career.

Cornette made a facebook post to the effect of now he can work for wrestling companys he would enjoy working for. I'm guessing Jerry Jarrett's SAW and/or ROH will be calling soon

Late to this thread so a few thoughts on things I read throughout: --Has Meltzer said whether the British candidates will have their own group like the Japanese do? So they're only getting a percentage of the vote based on ballots that include British performers? If so, what if only like 5 people vote for any Brits, 3 votes for one guy would get them in. --The Edge/Murdoch debate here has centered around their work but to me it's a stardom thing. I'll admit I haven't watched the product much at all during Edge's years on top, but more than just Meltzer rank him as one of THE top stars of the past few years. I never saw Murdoch as more than a 2nd tier guy, whereas Edge is one of a half dozen of the top stars & most consistent performers in the world's largest company over a several year period. I see him as being in --Regarding Rick Rude I also see him as a second tier guy and would probably argue Jake Roberts deserves it more than him, but Rude had more titles and more times pushed closer to the top. But I still see both as second tier, and this is a Hall of Fame, not a Hall of the Very Good. I agree with the guy that wrote that there are probably dozens of luchadores who would go in if you dropped it to Hall of the Very Good level. --Also curious why all the Meltzer hate and the HOF is a joke talk? Not to pick a scab, but why is Angle being in a joke and is that the reason "the HOF is a joke"? --Anyone want to offer opinions on Kensuke Sasaki? I see him as making a strong case for himself in the past 5 years, but I could see the argument of the scene over there isn't what it once was and he floated up the cards just based on attrition.

Don't get me wrong, SMW was not headed in a positive direction when it went down but I think the downfall was only the last like 3 months, not a whole year plus. My friend & I would drive 6-8 hrs every month or 2 to see shows and we were starting to second guess ourselves by Thanksgiving Thunder with Cornette wrestling the midget and Miss Texas vs. Wolfman (TV jobber). When it went under, I had heard tentative plans for Dec & Jan and I thought they were really going to look low budget. From what I remember, they had actually shot an angle with a local indy, Terry Landel, I think and were going to go with an invasion angle of SMW vs. local Knoxville indy. That and they were several years into recycling the same guys over & over. In his Q&A in 1995 I remember JC said using the big name talent was a double edged sword. It helped business for the one night but people stopped coming to the other shows, waiting for a big name to come back around.

Was SMW really "dying" in mid-1995? No one knew it was at least. Certainly there were frustrations over the TV world changing by then and I think their backer had pulled out by then but I don't think even now Cornette would admit that it was dying until a few months after this. The Fall was always a slow time but it really wasn't until Thanksgiving Thunder tour drew less than expected & mounting TV time costs that put them out in Nov. USWA/SMW did prop up business in a couple SMW markets but it really was a USWA feud only. PG-13 and Hales only appeared for a few months in SMW but it wasn't really a part of their TV, certainly nowhere near as much as in USWA where the promotion was built around it.

I would think this would help their candidacy. It is an interesting point about Cornette being in and them not being. Probably all part of the argument that they had interchangeable members and only a few year run with each version. By the way, Cornette was telling people that his next project is going to be a photo book of stuff he took back in the Memphis days so the SMW tribute book rumor isn't happening, at least not next.

I'm guessing Kane is the one here as I don't think Meltzer would argue that Jeff is a bigger star or more protected than Batista. Even if Jeff is currently more popular than Big Dave, I'm sure the company still sees Dave in the pecking order with the other protected few. Given Kane's been a company man for so long I could see him being protected more than a flighty Jeff Hardy.

I didn't have a problem with the bio, but I think he wrote it knowing that the readers just expected an overview in anticipation of Meltzer's exhastive obit. Regarding the Triple Crown point, my guess is he either didn't think of it or just knowing that it was an obvious thing known to the audience reading it that he didn't need to recap it all. As to how Alvarez got to #2, I think it's a combination of things. I think people grew tired of Keller's douchiness, endless debating, and extensive coverage of US mainstream stuff and not much else and just moved on. I don't know if Sherer was ever considered as #2 but he long ago moved from the print media (where he was largely an ECW trumpeter) to online only and people grew tired of his pop-up, ad friendly site and moved on. Alvarez rode Meltzer's friendship for all it was worth and got his position more by attrition and being in the right place at the right time with an audience that was more accepting of him already.

I think people are struggling with the term "high regard". I'm not really sure that I care to hold wrestling or the business of wrestling to a moral compass, but since we're comparing where we hold wrestling in relation to our other hobbies, it is of the "highest regard". Most people here have touched on their levels of obsession. I've been a fan of this non-stop for 25 years, taken to a new level when I was introduced to the sheets almost 20 years ago. Between attending live shows from every company imaginable in the US and Japan, collecting merchandise, autographs, photos, videos, doing public access TV shows, now podcasts, reading, writing and analyzing wrestling, it is quite the obsession. I have too many good memories and time invested to turn back now. Despite all the negative things that may have gone on and the sliminess of the business itself, I think most of us would admit we can't get enough. In some ways my fandom is at an all-time low between only actually watching maybe 2-3 hours a week and being mostly oblivious to the mainstream products, I'm in it so deep between reading, listening, dubbing, cataloging, etc., etc. that I can still spend virtually an entire weekend on nothing but wrestling without getting bored. I do feel I need to touch on something mentioned above, as good as the online community is, I feel you do need to connect with people either verbally or in person to share the love. I've lost track of how many times I've left a "dorkfest" with Dean Rasmussen, regardless of how good or bad what we watched was, without feeling my fire for wrestling re-stoked. It's like I need that validation that there is still good stuff out there to enjoy without feeling like you're some dork in your mom's basement with a secret obsession. Even the whole tape trading thing, I think for some (hopefully most) of us, it was a way to share our interests with other fans first and foremost before it ever turned into a business.

It was in his NTV/All Japan article from March. It was left over from the Sharpe Bros. days where they used trophies instead of tag belts. Even though belts came later, the trophies continued as part of the ceremony.

I recall him saying on the F4D appearance that they did shoot that like 4 times and Vince looked at him every time. He had some elaborate explanation of him acting that way by imitating a TV show or movie where someone was reacting to a crazy guy by doing that. So it does sound like they could have re-shot it and told him to move or stop grinning or whatever he was doing.

maybe he was comparing it to a particularly bad week on Raw & SD?

I found an old Wrestling Flyer newsletter over the weekend that had an interview with Meltzer in it. At the time of the interview (it was either mid-1992 or mid-1994, I forget), he said he had 5900 subscribers. It's in the last-ever Wrestling Flyer so if anyone can figure out when that folded, that's the year.

The other thing they liked to do back then was have matches like MX vs. RNR where the RNR would jump them during the ring intros, win the match over the champions, and only after the pin happened announce it was a non-title. I saw a show live where they didn't even bother with the announcement after, the RNR just left with the belts and the fans were left to wonder whether they MX just won them back before the next TV or whatever. I was a total mark at the time but smart enough to know the TV was a couple weeks behind. I remember waiting for the change to be acknowledged on TV but it never was. I think a non-Apter mag came out soon thereafter covering a situation in another arena like that and explained that it was non-title or they found some way to return the belts once they got backstage. So yeah they used to do this stuff all the time.

I agree they really should have booked a bigger venue. But since Hogan is a late addition, it's probably too late for that. My guess is either the Hogan wrestling show or the VH-1 show (if it still exists) are filming OR he really needs the money OR he is doing it as a favor/package deal w/ Hart & Knobs to promote his TV shows. I also wonder if that's the school Reid went to. This could shape up to be a money losing proposition to rival Tony Hunter's shows.

I got shipping notification overnight Mon so I hope it's here today when I get home. They could drive it to me in 5 hrs! Anyway, so is the $100,000 confirmed? At least by my very unscientific research, this appears to be selling well. Basically 2 friends of mine who NEVER buy wrestling DVDs online bought this, one got an autographed copy which I'm sure is double the price (too lazy to look). That is a huge price tag, but if you subtract the wrestling bookings, you're down to what $50,000? So I would think that's doable especially with whatever they are getting from RF & anyone else selling it. This seems like the one thing everyone I know was excited about & ordered it themselves rather than considered a bootleg. Are you sure the 4-disc set itself is limited edition? I thought only the autographed ones were limited as my friend that got that one said there was a special insert page for the autograph built into the cover so those had to be custom-made.

I either read or heard an interview with Meltzer around 97-98 where he said he was making like $150K then. I think I heard a 5,000 readership # around that point too. From what I've heard Yahoo pays well, as I think Bix or someone posted about how well paid some of their mainstream sports writers are, and with the # of hits his stuff gets, they probably pay him well. It seems they pick up his travel expenses for UFC & MMA trips. I'm sure all PPV fees, etc. are all business expenses. I would be curious how his readership is doing though post-wrestling boom, now with the rise of MMA adding other readers/subtracting those that think he focuses too much on it. I'm sure this online merger has helped him get some readers back though.