Death From Above

I have to wonder what a best of the '80's Stampede set would look like if Whalen hadn't hacked everything they did to shit. I'm astounded to this day the way the man is celebrated in Calgary as an icon. It's not like he was a good announcer either, as anyone that heard him in mainstream sports beyond the wrestling gig will be happy to tell you. Did any of this ever come to pass? My memories of Stampede are sketchy at best, as I was pretty young.

No other element of the media can keep their shit straight. Is it really realistic (or even sane) to expect, of all things, wrestling writers to be the one and only group that breaks this pattern?

My I'm sure very important rankings, read by people from all corners of creation, disk 4 only: 1. Terry Taylor vs. Ric Flair (6/1/85) [RNRIK-7] 2. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (5/3/85) [RNRIK-3] 3. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (4/28/85) [RNRIK-1] 4. Kerry Von Erich vs. Ric Flair (5/4/85) [RNRIK-4] 5. Rock N Roll Express vs. Terry Gordy & Buddy Roberts (6/24/85) [RNRIK-9] 6. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (6/19/85) [RNRIK-8] 7. Dirty White Boys vs. Terry Daniels & Bill Dundee (5/11/85) [RNRIK-6] 8. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (5/11/85) [RNRIK-5] 9. Rock N Roll Express vs. Jake Roberts & The Barbarian (6/28/85) [RNRIK-10] 10. Rock N Roll Express vs. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death (5/3/85) [RNRIK-2] MVP: Got to be Ric Flair. He's taken over my new #1 overall and has (in my opinion) raised the bar for non-bloodletting work on the set so far. Stock going up: Dirty White Boys. These guys are pretty unknown to me but they seem like a constantly entertaining tag team here. Stock going down: I'm drawing a blank. I hated nothing on disk four, even the 5/3/85 tag that a lot of other people disliked, I didn't think was bad though it's the least match on the disk. The Barbarian is greener than shit in his one match too but you can't really crucify a rookie and it still came out a decent match, so I say no winner for disk 4. General thoughts: I'm just the biggest mark for this disk. Top to bottom I thought this was almost universally great, though not quite. Still I thought most of this disk blew away a lot of the early stuff and a lot of this is going to rank pretty well at the end. This whole thing felt pretty quality to me, and it's obvious Mid South in 1985 was really in full flow. So much fun here, and you basically have only two gears: the long Flair epic and the Rock N Roll Express formula. You can do far worse for a 1-2 punch than that.

I've actually almost stopped using YouTube because of the number of mentally ill 11 year olds that think it's their personal venue to show off that they're menatally ill 11 year olds. If they just canned the comments section entirely it would boost the site by 200%. Granted, I could just stop reading the comments, but I find it has a car crash kind of attraction. You look, and as long as nobody got their head cracked on the windshield it makes for an interesting 10 seconds. The problem is a lot of heads are cracking on windshileds on YouTube.

Some of the extras are really the flavour that make this set as great as it is. Definitely worth the little extra $ because as long as you watch them in the right spots it adds tremendously to the fun, I think. Of course some of the videos are mind blowing cheese. The Fantastics second video "Gimmie All Your Lovin"... you really could dub the SNL "Ambiguously Gay Duo" theme over that. I almost fell out of my chair in the brief shot with the leg press machine, it was just too much to take with a straight (no pun intended, I think) face.

Ted Dibiase doesn't have any great matches. I heard it on the interwebz, it must be true. Rankings for disk 3 only: 1. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (No DQ, Loser Leaves Town, Coal Miner's Glove on a Poll, Tuxedo, Cage match ) (3/22/85) [bR-14] 2. Ted DiBiase vs. Brad Armstrong (2/10/85) [bR-10] 3. Ted DiBiase vs. Jim Duggan (No DQ) (3/8/85) [bR-13] 4. Rock N Roll Express vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (2/13/85) [bR-11] 5. Ted DiBiase & Dr. Death vs. Hacksaw Duggan & Terry Gordy (Texas Tornado Match) (1/21/85) [bR-9] 6. The Fantastics vs. Dr. Death & Jake Roberts (4/14/85) [bR-15] 7. Ric Flair vs. Terry Taylor (4/28/85) [bR-17] 8. Brad Armstrong vs. Ted DiBiase (1/16/85) [bR-5] 9. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Brickhouse Brown, Bill Dundee & Jose Lothario (Elimination Match) (11/16/84) [bR-2] 10. Kevin Von Erich vs. Chris Adams (1/18/85) [bR-6] 11. Buddy Landel, Chavo & Hector Guerrero vs. Rock N Roll Express & Jose Lothario (1/18/85) [bR-7] 12. Rock N Roll Express vs. Dirty White Boys (4/15/85) [bR-16] 13. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (1/21/85) [bR-8] 14. Ernie Ladd & Butch Reed vs. Magnum T.A. & Master G (Street Fight) (11/4/84) [bR-1] 15. Rock N Roll Express & Butch Reed vs. Dr. Death, Kamala & One Man Gang (2/25/85) [bR-12] 16. Adrian Street vs. Terry Taylor (Loser Leaves Town) (12/7/84) [bR-4] 17. Rock N Roll Express vs. Midnight Express (Scaffold Match) (12/2/84) [bR-3] MVP: Ted Dibiase. Top three matches for me on the disk, and 4 of my top 5. I just have been so into his work every time he is on my screen. Stock going up: Ted Dibiase. He just owns disk three, at least he did for me. He's got my new overall #1 with the stips match, and as of right now although I'm not posting my ongoing overall ballot I will say he's sitting in 4 of my top 5 (not all the same four as on this disk). Stock going down: Robert Gibson. He's really starting to get on my nerves, the man made at least 90% of his career standing on the apron bringing the very skillful rythmic clapping and the "Rock and Roll" monodrone chants. The man could wear a cheerleader outfit and it wouldn't be terribly out of place. I like Morton, I like my fair share of Rock and Roll Express matches, but Gibson personally does nothing that couldn't have been done by someone else. General thoughts: This disk was seriously all over the map. A handful of my favourites so far, and three of my bottom four, plus a bunch of middling stuff. There were parts of this disk that almost made me sleepy, and then you get Dibiase and Duggan making you want to jump around and celebrate the love of the glorious pro wrestling. Or something.

So, I certainly had a couple opinions on disk 2 that seem to be against the common collective brain machine, but that's just fine. After all there wouldn't be much point in doing ballots if we all thought the same way. Disk 1 was good. Disk 2 was great. This was so much fun, I was actually planning to pace myself a little more with my viewing of this but it's too good to put down. Rankings for disk 2 only: 1. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (No DQ) (9/28/84) [sDM-11] 2. Butch Reed vs. Skip Young (9/23/84) [sDM-10] 3. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (6/8/84) [sDM-3] 4. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (Tulsa 5/27/84) [sDM-2] 5. Killer Khan vs. Chris Adams (9/9/84) [sDM-9] 6. Brickhouse Brown & Master G vs. Butch Reed & Ernie Ladd (10/21/84) [sDM-14] 7. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (7/6/84) [sDM-5] 8. Magnum T.A. vs. Ted DiBiase (No DQ) (OKC 5/27/84) [sDM-1] 9. The Fantastics vs. Chavo & Hector Guerrero (10/12/84) [sDM-13] 10. Dusty Rhodes & Jim Duggan vs. Butch Reed & Hercules Hernandez (8/19/84) [sDM-8] 11. The Fantastics vs. Midnight Express (OKC 8/9/84) [sDM-7] 12. Rock N Roll Express & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Ernie Ladd (7/2/84) [sDM-4] 13. Adrian Street vs. Chris Adams (10/10/84) [sDM-12] 14. The Fantastics & Hacksaw Duggan vs. Midnight Express & Jim Cornette (7/20/84) [sDM-6] MVP: The Midnight Express. I was a bit down on some Midnights that others were up on, and vice versa, but pretty much universally in terms of the talk, somebody's got something the Midnights did here ranked pretty well up. I thought Dennis Condrey really steps it up on this disk. And Eaton is Eaton. Stock going up: Butch Reed. Yeah put me in the "I knew he would be 'better than in Doom' but not this much better" camp. Very impressed with him so far. I can't wait until I get to his actual "good" stuff. ;-) Reed is going to be the breakout star of this set for all the people that didn't know Mid South before now, he just has that "it" factor around him here already, and apparently the best is still definitely to come. Stock going down: I can't really say anyone stands out for this. This was a pretty solid disk with only one match I disliked, and even that involves six guys who otherwise you've got no reason to be down on. Eh, let's give it to Skandor Akbar for blatantly missing his cues from Killer Khan in the Khan/Adams match, for all the difference it made (which would be pretty much none). I really have no one else to give it to here. ;-) General thoughts: A lot of my thoughts on the matches seem a bit out of line with the consensus, but this is still a really great disk. I just think it's great for different reasons than a lot of other people. I guess that says something about how good this stuff is: it's pretty hard to watch this stuff and not find something to love. I'm really in love with Mid South at this point, 2 disks in. It's already living up to the very large reputation. For years I heard about Mid South but never got into it because I simply didn't know where to start, and this set certainly took care of that and more. I'm not about to abandon my Japanese tape/disk collection that makes up most of what I watch or anything. But this stuff certainly is not ending up with my old WWF/WCW tapes collecting dust, Mid South is really fucking great.

Hiroshi Hase was putting on some great matches pretty fast.

I've ripped through Disk 1 in two days. Let's hope I can hold that pace and I might actually still get a ballot in. I'm also trying to watch the extras in where they belong chronologically (thanks to whoever the guy was that posted a huge list of them in the DVDVR Extras thread) and I'm more or less counting those as part of the experience of each disk even if they aren't listed officially as such, because they add tremendously to my enjoyment. So, my rankings and thoughts of disk 1: 1. Ted DiBiase vs. Hacksaw Duggan (Street Fight) (7/29/83) [PTB-14] 2. Mr. Olympia vs. Chavo Guerrero (6/24/83) [PTB-13] 3. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (Loser Leaves Town) (10/27/82) [PTB-8] 4. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Butch Reed & Jim Neidhart (Cage Match) (12/25/83) [PTB-15] 5. Midnight Express vs. Rock N Roll Express (No DQ: Tag Titles vs. $50,000) (5/23/84) [PTB-20] 6. Mr. Wrestling II & Magnum T.A. vs. Midnight Express (2/10/84) [PTB-16] 7. Mr. Olympia vs. Bob Roop (7/15/82) [PTB-5] 8. Midnight Express vs. Bill Watts & Stagger Lee (4/22/84) [PTB-19] 9. One Man Gang vs. Buck Robley (Lumberjack Match) (9/15/82) [PTB-7] 10. Junkyard Dog & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Hacksaw Duggan (8/18/82) [PTB-6] 11. Buddy Landel & Butch Reed vs. Rock N Roll Express (3/28/84) [PTB-17] 12. Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) [PTB-4] 13. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) [PTB-2] 14. Butch Reed vs. Iron Sheik (4/8/83) [PTB-11] 15. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) [PTB-1] 16. Midnight Express vs. Bill Dundee & Porkchop Cash (4/6/84) [PTB-18] 17. Mr. Wrestling II & Junkyard Dog vs. Matt Borne & Ted DiBiase (2/16/83) [PTB-10] 18. Stagger Lee & Mr. Olympia vs. Ted DiBiase & Matt Borne (12/18/82) [PTB-9] 19. Bob Roop vs. Ted DiBiase (4/2/82) [PTB-3] 20. Nick Bockwinkel vs. Dusty Rhodes (5/20/83) [PTB-12] MVP: I think this might be the hardest disk to do an MVP for, simply because chronologically it covers the largest time frame and there's just so many good wrestlers on this disk. I'm going to give it to JYD based on him being the guy everything was built around in the early days and doing a good job with it, and for basically showing me he wasn't always the lethargic embarassment I have seen elsewhere. Stock going up: JYD. Also Jim Cornette, who is brilliant. I mean I've always known he was brilliant, but this is like brilliant +1. Seeing a young preppie Cornette rant and rave about how his Mommy is going to buy out Mid South so he can make Bill Watts a janitor, fuck over the Rock and Roll Express with an ether rag, get his face pushed into a cake followed by a hyperventalating/screaming fit that makes an otherwise ordinary segment fantastic, just his general energy... Cornette was the star of the Midnight Express to this point. He's just awesome, especially if you are watching extras in their apropriate context. Stock going down: Dusty Rhodes. Has only one official match in the set through here, which I ripped on at DVDVR for basically being two guys "trying to do enough to make it not suck but doing nothing they don't do in every match they have", and it was the only match to this point I genuinely didn't like. He's clearly around more in this time frame as he crops up in the extras a couple times, but he isn't making the main set. I love Dusty's promos, I really do. But as a wrestler I don't think I'm a fan. Other general thoughs: A disk into my first foray into the Mid South that I've heard about for years and I'm already a huge fan. a few matches in I have to be honest that I was a bit worried about where it seemed to be going, every match operating under a 10 minute studio time limit... you can only do so much in 4-6 minutes of work, even if it's top work in that time. But the variety of disk 1 actually is really something. You have an all out street fight, a Chavo/Olympia lucha-style grudge match, the great Loser Leaves Town match which is an example of excellent wrestling with the kind of classic angle that makes American wrestling tick, a fairly unique cage match, formula southern tag wrestling, high paced well executed studio singles matches... there's really so many diffrerent styles even on just 1 disk. And every one of those styles is being executed well. Right before doing this project, I was ranking a ballot for All Japan in the 1990's. Incredible wrestling. Incredible lack of style diversity to the point my head wanted to explode by the end. Watts seems to love some variety, and it really helps a lot for a project like this and shows why the product was so successful.

Do doctors write articles about how House and ER are discrediting their fine profession? If so, I'd kind of like to see that. It's got to be pretty humorous stuff. Wrestling is fake. And? We know. Amateur wrestling is about as relevant a sport as field hockey, slalom skiing, and triathalon. Which is to say, not at all. Who cares what amateur wrestlers think? If anything the sanity of amateur wrestlers should be questioned for training so hard in a profession that has such a low celing of payoff. If you're going to dedicate yourself to the glorious persuit of athletics, at least have enough common sense to make it potentially profitable in the process. Actually I suppose that reference isn't quite valid. There's probably way more money in being a top triathlete or European skiing star than there is in being an olympic champion wrestler that avoids going pro or switching into MMA. I also adore the line: When you have to wear this as a badge of pride, what you do is retarded beyond any rational defense. This is really not a point I'd have brought up in defense of the amateur game. It's like a Grand Theft Auto radio call in show. How did it go? "When I played football we wore leather helmets! One side of my face is paralyzed! But it was worth it! WE WON THE GAME!"

So I finally got my set today (hooray!) and I've wasted no time digging into it. I'm not watching the disks straight through exactly though, someone at DVDVR put up a list that more or less puts all the extras where they should be chronologically, so as I'm pretty new to Mid South I'm choosing to go at it that way for my own clarity's sake. I'm taking my own notes as I go, I guess I might as well post them. I guess it's doubtful that I'll finish in time to get a ballot in but I still have been looking forward to getting in on this anyway. So I'll post my notes, maybe something will be interesting to somebody. Fabulous Freebirds vs. Junkyard Dog & Buck Robley So it finally begins! I'm choosing to do this all as close to chronological order as possible, so I actually begin here, on extras disk 2. Since I'm totally new to Mid-South, easing in with a couple extras isn't a bad way anyway to "get a feel" for things without diving in head first into instant rankings craziness. Two very early first impressions: I really like Bill Watts as a commentator, in terms of how he puts over the action without SCREAMING WILDLY ALL THE TIME, which is a very pleasant throwback in itself to something wrestling has really gone totally away from in America. The other first impression is that, wow the Junkyard Dog sure looks radically different from how I am used to seeing him from later on. I’ve never really seen him in great shape before, but physically he's really impressive here and it helps put how I was used to him later in his career into some perspective. He looked quite impressive here, probably best displayed with a really good powerslam. Although this is my first look at Mid South, I was aware right from the start this had to be the famous "JYD is blinded" angle I'd heard about, and I really liked it. Loved the way Dog sold it myself, I'm glad this was included because it is one of the most remembered Mid South Angles. The double clothesline finish after a 30 minute match seems kind of lame, but the angle itself looked really well done. Enjoyable enough beginning. Fabulous Freebirds vs. Junkyard Dog & Bill Watts I assume this is the eventual revenge match of the above? Probably. Hey, my first Bill Watts match! I feel more manly already~! For a guy in a singlet, Watts sure is all about the punching and kicking people. Being as Stan Hansen is my second favourite wrestler, that sits just fine with me. Watts also brings the ~spitting in your face~, you cowardly heel sissies. This one felt a little too brief even as an extra, but whatever. Dusty Rhodes & Dick Murdoch vs. Wild Samoans Hey, Dustry Rhodes was actually more "Shinya Hashimoto bulky" than "The Burger Keeeng, if you weeeel" here. Heel collusion! Heel collusion, by gawd! Dick Murdoch's all fucked up. I really like angry Dusty Rhodes promos so I wholehearedly approve of this inclusion. Say what you will about his wrestling and his ego, the man knows how to talk. That promo was blood pumping good stuff. "The guiding light will follow the American Dream". The double Murdoch promos were interesting. The first one I guess they figured he didn't sell enough pain for a guy with busted ribs (which is what I was thinking), so they had him cut another. I still don't think it was that great, but the Dusty promo made the segment for me. Still enjoyed it. Killer Khan - Ted DiBiase Brawl I've had a Killer Khan soft spot ever since I saw his match with Choshu in All Japan, which really ruled. As for this segment... does exactly what it says on the label. Fun. Michael Hayes brings it nicely here on the mic, and the brawl was nice enough. Also Khan chopping through the board to get him over = win. Loved that. This segment was really good at showing the classic heel device that the heel has to feel justified in what he does, or it's just stupid. I was trying to figure out what the hell about this seemed so familiar, then it hit me. Hayes sitting there, neckbrace, jacket with no shirt, oily body, working the mic, putting himself over as pretty and putting his people over as tough… was Joel Gertner ripping off Michael Hayes? Wow. That's... interesting. Also, lol @ commentary "The little Jap manager". Indeed. This was great. Bob Roop vs. Mike George (12/16/81) I've only seen Roop wrestle once before, an NWF title match in the late 70's againt Inoki in New Japan. It kind of sucked, but it was an Inoki NWF title match, so yeah that happened more than once. I'm willing to let that slide. George I've never seen before that I know of. Roop as "wrestler that chooses to be an asshole"is apparently really fun. Scientific heels are a rare breed so it's a nice change from the usual heel shenanigans. The "fly onto the apron, run into the post" thing surprised the hell out of me too. Okay opening match, nothing outstanding but a good start. Sets a nice enough tone. Both guys played their roles well. Mr. Olympia vs. Paul Orndorff (2/3/82) Another first for me, with this Olympia match. Fun match. Watts does a good job putting over Orndorff's arrogance gimmick and pointing out a couple times when he tries to steal Dibiase and Orton's finishers, and how he shouldn't look past Olympia. Which of course bites him in the ass. This one had a nice pace to it, and I'm all for a submission finish time to time. Good enjoyable contest that got over Orndorff's overconfidence and Olympia's ability to strike quickly. Killer Karl Kox News Feature Uh... nice KKK vest. Or something. Otherwise nothing too exceptional though it is interesting to see these old news pieces that still at least sort of treat wrestling like a sport. Of course they still get in the â"ow you perform is at least as important as winning and losing" line. Ted DiBiase vs. Bob Roop (4/2/82) I didn't mind this but like a lot of Mid-South TV it feels a little short for my tastes. Still, what they do here is solid enough. I'm leaning towards saying I didn't like this match so much based on Roop's main point of attack being the leg, and the story basically being Dibiase shrugging that off entirely. I get that they're going for "he's really fired up and ready for Roop" But Roop didn't have much other offense so this came off like "champion gets squashed". Precious Paul Ellering Workouts I was totally unprepared for this one... words cannot describe these. Jesus Christ. I can honestly say I've never seen anything quite like this before, and I'm pretty sure every time someone watches this segment, an angel loses it's wings. I can't even begin to do this justice in words. Completely awesome wrestling insanity. May it never happen again. "POWERRRRRRRR…. YEAHHH!!!!~~~~~~~~~" Junkyard Dog vs. Nick Bockwinkel (6/11/82) Boy the fans are way into JYD’s entrance, aren't they? Good stuff. Boyd Pierce's (I think it's Boyd Pierce, right?) ramble on the "Crowned uncrowned king of wrestling' was totally awesome. Apparently Keiji Muto is a closet JYD fan, as JYD hits a huge Russian leg sweep and instead of going for the pin he... sits there, staring into the distance, which the fans pop for. Classic Muto I thought, but it's apparently true that ~everyone~ steals from Mid South! Anyway, this match has had a lot of dislike/apathy put on it at DVDVR but I’m not feeling it. I thought this was the best match so far, an enjoyable change of pace from the high speed Mid South studio matches. Besides, Dog's punches look pretty good and Bockwinkle plays chickenshit pretty well. Well, I liked it anyway. It’s not all time epic or anything hell it's not even "great", but it's a decent match and the flash pin on Bockwinkle drew a huge pop so obviously they did something right. Then Heenan does what Heenan does, and stooges, and then Brody kick ass and such. I may be in the minority but I rather enjoyed it. Of the first few matches that get ranked I liked this one best. Best thing I saw in the bunch: The Khan/Dibiase brawl segment. And Paul Ellering being scary and awesome. Worst thing I saw in the bunch: Dick Murdoch's "I hurt my ribs, I swear" promo #1, which apparently they promptly redid. And Paul Ellering being scary and awesome.

I'm not really clear how this falls as a knock on Race. "Wrestler does a move, opponent stupidly uses it as cue to go on instant offense that makes both look silly" is a very old problem. Maybe Race is the one calling the match, I don't know (I would assume he is, thinking about it, that would make sense). But even then you can still come back on offense while not forgetting you got hit with a piledriver moments before. Not to mention that "guy gets hit with move, pops up with instant offense" is about the last thing I'd bring up in an Angle vs. anyone in the universe thread when talking about the anyone in the universe part.

If offered a choice between BJ Whitmer and Jerry Lynn, I choose Mark Henry.

In honor of 5 terrible years, let's celebrate Dan Wahlers with this passage from his latest column, where he describes the image of a hole in the side of Steve Austin's head squirting blood. Err. I'm pretty sure this is the best wrestling poem of all time. I've also never really got the MMA = pro wrestling thing. But I can't be alone because I assume Antonio Inoki lost sight of that too before he sent Yuji Nagata hurtling towards his imminent death in PRIDE and there were a lot of people that figured out in advance this was a really, really foolish thing to do on any number of levels.

I have trouble commenting on this because so much of what I have seen of Race was either (a.) in All Japan against mostly people Tim Cooke even listed directly as better wrestlers in the same time frame or (b.) Ric Flair, who has been known to have a decent match now and again. Then you get into his old man stuff which isn't really sticking with my memory. I'd have to see more of Harley up against some less excellent wrestlers to draw a real conclusion. The work of Race I've seen has been very enjoyable but I'm aware he's a guy I don't have the whole picture on, so I also find this discussion an interesting one.

More memory lane through the sheets threads! Excellent, these are always a good read. Thanks for posting. Thunder was out-drawing Nitro in the UK? Well that's... something, isn't it. I'm also trying to contain the horror of a Sid vs. Hogan and Flair/Luger vs. Sting/Vampiro headlined PPV in 2000 but I'm not sure I can. I was still enjoying WCW TV in a trainwreck kind of way at this point but some of those era PPV lineups are mindblowing indeed. Looking back on some of it, it's almost surprising they survived all the way to the Scott Steiner heel run at the end of the line (which I actually thought was quite awesome but nothing was going to plug all the holes in the sinking ship by then).

Point taken.

Sounds fun though to be honest I can't make it through even the Tabe one without several breaks anymore. That's not really a knock of Flair's formula though. I'd say the same thing about watching, say, 10 Southern formula tags in a row. The formula obviously works and is plenty entertaining, I just don't want to sit through it 10 times in a row anymore. I also hit the same wall with Ditch's 1990's AJPW ballot he ran on DVDVR not long ago, by 1996 I was just dying for matches that did anything against the grain but without being, you know, an Albright/Sabu tag team.

Of the singles matches that aired in full on the well known Tabe Flair vs. Steamboat comp, this was the worst of them to me. It's still an okay match but Flair in All Japan suffered from a similar problem generally to what some people have said about Flair in Mid-South: he's stil Flair but it just doesn't seem to quite have the same magic. On the other hand, I thought this might be the best match I've seen these two have on tape. Certainly a lot better than the Starrcade '83 main, which in my opinion isn't really saying that much. Thanks Gene Kiniski. Of course even then it wasn't as good as the Jumbo/Kerry Von Erich main event. ;-) On the NWA list aren't you also missing the Flair/Steamboat match from the Meadowlands in 1984? Hell I thought that was their best match that wasn't the 2 out of 3 falls match. I'd be shocked if that match was outright not nominated.

Except that he has NEVER appeared in WWE. Not even for an old timer's battle royal like Lou Thesz. Was The Sheik ever in WWWF? They put him in, I think as much for the Sabu/RVD connection as anything. If he was there it's not like he was a guy who built his reputation there. Oh, hi everyone from DVDVR. A lot of rather familiar faces here. Mainly I just lurk here and look over the old WO 1980's recap posts so far.