Jkeats

I think it also had to do with him not liking that Meltzer rated Flair's matches so highly as well. I agree, though. Every wrestler thinks the style they work is the way to work a proper match.

I had originally ordered from the Canadian Amazon last year and I'm into my second reading of it. Definitely on of the top books on wrestling ever (JJ Dillon's is still my all time favorite). He does come off a touch hypocritical and even delusional at times. The stuff about Flair and how he wasn't a great worker because he didn't plan the match out before hand and preferred to call it in the ring was weird. I thought his portrayal of his time in Memphis odd as well. Emphasizing the "hillbillyness" of it all, as if he was performing in front of big money, high rollers in his Stampede days on the Prairies. Overall, this book coupled with Pain and Passion gives a great overview of the Stampede days and the Hart family as a whole. Highly recommended.

As it stands right now, at this very moment...here are my top 25* for the ballot: *Card subject to change

My Disc Eight rankings...one more to go! ** I'm a huge fan of the Lawler vs. Idol/Rich feud. I remember following that feud in Pro Wrestling Illustrated when I was a kid and it was great to see the match here. Great intensity and ingenuity with Rich under the ring. ** Lawler's title win, after years and years chasing it was just so emotional that it brought the entire match up a notch. In a set filled with great stories to sell the matches, what could beat this story? ** Bigelow was at his monstrous best in Memphis and the matches with and against Lawler are a blast.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah I don't understand that sentiment. I think Cena has developed into a solid worker and works the WWE style to a T. He's been involved in way too many very good matches to be considered a stinker.

Wade said it on his update. He said you can't deny that the ratings rise is due to Cena being a draw.

I never got the feeling he uses those terms as a way to keep kayfabe. If that was the case he'd probably use the old PWI standard "Fan Favorites" and "Rulebreakers". Protagonist and Antagonist are often used in film and TV and it's just a fancy way of saying good guy and bad guy. Maybe he's adhering to the "entertainer" edict.

I'm in both SAG and AFTRA and I believe WWE gets away with it because they aren't a signatory of either union. That's how writers could work for WWE programming during the writer's strike but WWE Films was on the struck list for the WGA. Declaring his workers entertainers isn't going to make any difference. There are plenty of non union productions on the air, commercials especially. There was talk, way back when Smackdown first got on UPN, that the wrestlers might be eligible for AFTRA eligibility and get insurance that way. A lot of WWE workers are probably in either AFTRA or SAG due to various outside projects such as commercials and the WWE films, of course. Being in one or both of those unions isn't the same as the locker room forming a union on their own. The latter would give them much more power.

Maybe...I didn't get that vibe from the crowd, though. I can't fault any crowd for booing an opponent of a returning Randy Couture. I've been a hardcore MMA fan for quite awhile and never had a problem with him being a pro wrestler. It's not like it's Batista climbing in there...Lesnar has legit cred I wonder if it's just that he's a wrestler or because he shot up so quickly due to the notoriety of being a wrestler? That, coupled with his attitude. I certainly didn't find the Heath Herring fight boring. In fact, I thought that entire PPV was one of the better ones in recent memory.

Here's some more Rossy goodness from his latest blog on Brock Lesnar: How could you say that Lesnar wasn't cocky? Of course he was a loudmouth and it was solid promoting to do so. Ross is convinced that the reason he was getting booed is just because he's a wrestler. He's locked onto that. Nothing mentioned that he's facing one of the most beloved UFC fighters ever in his comeback match to the promotion. Nah, it's just 'cause he's a wrassler. Isn't this the same guy who rails against wrestling websites? It's ok when he writes about something he's never been a part of but no one else can do it because they don't know what they're talking about? Yeah pro wrestling just gets a bad rap is all! There's nothing sleazy going on. Nothing anyone wouldn't be thrilled to be associated with! Of course there is a stigma to pro wrestling and always has. I just don't think they do themselves any favors in how they present themselves, treat the talent and alienate themselves from mainstream media. You can't act in that manner and then cry you're being judged unfairly. Well, you can. You just lose credibility.

My Disc Seven rankings: Thoughts: ** The Dundee-Lawler and Koko-Flair were neck and neck the whole way with me. I would really tie them both for number as far as how much I enjoyed both. I went with DvL as #1 though, due to the fact that if there wasn't any clipping, I would have ranked it there. Both matches are two of my favorites on the set. ** I really love the whole Lawler/Dutch/Buddy/Dundee saga and the top of my listings represents that pretty well. The 3/10 tag is fantastic. ** I enjoyed the Martel-Lawler match a lot and really liked seeing Martel's "pre-Model" heel streak come out. ** Was disappointed in the Koko-Masked Superstar match as Stubbs has grown into a favorite since I've been watching the old MSW TV shows. Plus the original MS is one of my all time favorites. ** Randy Hales' "JESUS CHRIST" call on the Nightmares tope spot cracked me up. I "rewound" it about 3 times and laughed everytime. ** I thought the mixed tag was actually fun (kind of in the same way as the mixed midget tag was). Not something I'd rate highly but also not something I was bored watching by any stretch.

I'm about halfway through disc seven but HOLY CRAP was Flair-Koko an awesome match. I may like it even more than the Lawler-Dundee LLT/Hair match on the same disc (only because of what seems to be a huge chunk clipped out in the middle from seeing the highlights. I would have liked to see Lawler regain the advantage rather than have it come back with him in control outside the ring). These two will need rewatching. Great stuff!

Yeah it's common practice for documentaries not to pay ancillary characters. It wasn't like Ross was featured in the documentary like Funk, Foley or Roberts were. Although a "thank you" in the credits would have been nice. For a guy who oversaw some of the most one sided contracts in entertainment and being a big believer in people taking responsibility for themselves, maybe he should have thought it through before signing the release. Or maybe he should have got one of those "money wasting" agents he likes to complain about

Here's my Disc Six: ** Both the Savage-Lawler and Savage-Oski matches were awesome. Even with as much missing from the matches as there were. I can't imagine how high they would have ranked overall in completion. ** I loved the wild Fabs-Sheepherders cage match. Just rampant insanity and the torn down cage wall and crazy ending added to it. ** Rock & Rolls vs. Nightmares was old school tag teaming at it's best. Great double team and comedy spots. I truly love Southern territory era tag team wrestling. I think it's a style all it's own. ** It was great hearing Lance and Gordon calling matches together. What was the story behind that? Also, I've been meaning to mention this and always neglect to...It's really astounding how clear the commentary is on the Mid South Coliseum matches. .. especially considering Lance (or Randy) is just using a standard, corded hand mike. The fact that they come across so clearly and don't get messed up is really a testament to the announcing.

I think this thread has evolved into me talking to myself What did you think of this match, John? Well, John, I enjoyed it very much... My rankings for disc five (which was a disc chalk full of tag team excellence) Thoughts: ** As I mentioned above, just full of fantastic tag matches. I really enjoyed the New Fabs vs. PYT feud and the Falls Count Anywhere was a great tag match that evolved into a great brawl. The finish was a little "eh" with the Falls Count Anywhere stip but still, it was never actually mention it was No DQ...just falls counting anywhere, so I can rationalize and live with it. It's almost a shame that Gilbert and Rich didn't just team as Gilber and Rich and do their own thing as they were a top notch babyface team. At first I was a little "where the hell is this going" on Rich's promo about his Mom's boyfriends...but as he went on it became clear and it truly was a great promo. One I hadn't seen before. ** I'm a big fan of the RnR Xpress vs. Poffomania matches. I liked the second one even more than the first because they did a nice job of playing off that match. Savage was a MANIAC...always in constant motion. I love him sneaking around the ring and kicking Morton in the back. Why doesn't a wrestler today adopt this kind of persona? The "movement" in these matches really stands out against a stale, overproduced product today where everyone acts and moves the same. ** I agree with Will in the first Savage/Lawler teaming seemed more epic than the rematch and I think it was a better match overall. ** Loved the actual Lawler-Savage match and it had some great wrestling in it. The finish let me down a little with Lawler popping back up from the piledriver and winning via schoolboy. Morton's slow count didn't help. Still, the action was solid and enjoyable. ** Old Fabs vs. PYTs was just a lot of fun. Some great comedy spots. ** Savage and Idol in the ring together and my ticket is bought and paid for. Two favorites. Overall a really strong disc. Tough to rank past 3 or 4. It even had a very strong Jimmy Valiant match! The Valiant PWI from when I was growing up where he speaks out in an "Open letter to the fans: It's time for you to boogie woogie" cracks me up still today

If it's a widespread problem in the company and "all of the young wrestlers" have this attitude, there might be a problem with the company itself. Any company you work for can shout "rah rah team" and tell you to do stuff to distinguish yourself as a theory. If, in practice, the company is doing everything opposite that then it's not necessarily just a problem with the youngsters. A lot of corporations and companies have those "team building" seminars and stuff along those lines but most don't follow through with showing their employees that they are a team. It's all about the employee showing his loyalty to the company while the company does stuff to undercut the team values it pretends to encourage. For example..."oh the young guys aren't taking enough steps to be good promo guys or to develop their characters". Well, how much freedom do they even get in that area any longer? They are told exactly what to say. They are told what character they are to portray. It's not even like it was 10 years ago with Austin and Rock and Mankind being allowed to develop and find their characters. Today's product is overproduced and there's no room for individuality or discovering that rare gem. For all intents and purposes they are just being told what to say, where to stand...etc. In acting, there's a thing called "a line reading" and it's the antithesis of what a good director says. The director says to the actor "say this line like this" and basically wants the person to mimic what he just did. Why bother hiring the person in the first place since you don't care about what they're bringing to the table...only that they say the words exactly the way you want. There are no longer room for guys to break through via happy accidents (Austin 3:16) I say, if Ross feels it's that much of a problem, then do something about it instead of passive aggressively putting something in his blog. Have some of the wrestlers who have saved well hold classes while they are sitting around at the arena all day. Actually schedule seminars with guys like Steamboat on selling or Michael Hayes on the art of the promo. It's not just up to the performers because it's an overall issue that affects the company, too (at least for the performance aspect...as someone mentioned, they like when the wrestlers need the money as they can hold it over them). It's a star driven business and if they're not doing everything in their power to create new stars, then it's their own fault.

I actually had the middle one at number one for that disc. I agree that Lawler flurry was just awesome to behold. I actually liked the No DQ the least of the three...but again, that's like saying I like Chocolate the least as an ice cream flavor out of Strawberry, Chocolate and Vanilla. I'm thrilled with any of them

Another really tough disc to rank. Lawler-Dundee was the runaway winner on this disk and is neck and neck for number one overall with Lawler-Mantel barbed wire. Just an awesome match with two guys leaving nothing on the table. I really love when they do the "both guys are exhausted and go for that home run move" finishes. It really just sells how important and tough the match is. The Fabs-Moondog war is fantastic. I couldn't say a bad thing about any of their matches...anytime the two teams are in the ring, I'm watching. Even though the finishes stunk, I loved seeing Hansen in Memphis. Not to mention (and I'm sure I'll get ridiculed for this, as I often do), I'm a big fan of IDOLMANIA DARLIN'! I love me some Austin Idol. I have the promos leading up to the Dundee-Rogers and Rogers-Ware matches on some other Memphis disc and it really gave me the perspective on these two matches and brought the enjoyment level up. When Dundee slaps Rogers during an interview, you just want to punch him (Dundee) yourself. He comes off like such an asshole! The mixed tag was fun and a lot better than I was expecting. Cowboy Lang and Little Tokyo could actually go.

Exactly! If these guys are always backstage goofing around and never watching the matches or taking advantage of talking to the vets then that's one thing but it's certainly not how Ross presented it. Just because he happened to overhear a conversation about iPods and iPhones...well, so what? People have outside interests (at least normal, healthy people do). It's called having a balanced life and doesn't make you any less committed to your craft. I'm an actor and I'm working on my craft every day...whether it's working, auditioning, taking class, teaching class...etc. I'm also hanging out tonight watching the Red Sox game and typing on a pro wrestling board. Neither of which has anything to do with acting but it doesn't mean I don't work hard at it. It makes you human. Coming from someone who has side interests of a restaurant and loudly proclaims his love of watching a very non pro wrestling game of Sooners football it's a little hypocritical.

From one of my favorite scenes from THE WIRE: I hope Cena is a WIRE fan.