Kronos

Challenged by Lawler for his NWA Title on Memphis TV (8/14/82), Flair says, "The world champion never puts his title on TV. I don't make $500,000-don't fly around in a big jet defending that title on local TV programs."

I know it's perhaps not the smartest thing to suggest, but based on the comments I see on Youtube there have to be at least some people who are not smarky.

I am not sure I see the value in this case. We know whose posts we like, and people around these parts are pretty quick to challenge something they don't like. One social network I am on - Fitocracy - has the "Prop" feature. That's really neat when you first start. But eventually, it just becomes one more notification you have to clear. And it's not like I pay more attention to the comments with more props - anymore than I pay special attn to the comments on FB with more likes.

I just realized that I am coming up on 6 years since I joined this board, which makes me a lightweight compared to you NMB guys. Still, that's a crazy long time -- even if I don't stop in very often these days. I go in my phases of watching rasslin. And when I do start watching it, I tend to come here to read about it.

The countdown was to the explosion, if I remember correctly. Oh. That's just silly, then.

Funk vs Cactus, KOTDM Finals 8/20/1995 Can someone explain to me what happened with the counting? It sounded like the announcing counted out the time. Did they just restart the match, since there was no winner? It went on for another 5 minutes before the final pinfall.

If you hit up Natchez -- and if it's still there - be sure to eat some fried catfish and japaleno cornbread at 'Cock on the Walk'. It's right on the river. Also, I have never been, but Oxford, MS is supposed to be fantastic. Old South college town, great antiquing and other shopping, etc, You could always do your beach stop in Gulf Shores, AL, if it's not oil-ruined still.

@Bix -- Saw your comments on blu-ray.com as well as here on the Bret collection. Do you think this one is a worthwhile buy, now that you've sampled it? I wonder if this set - or any set with pre-HD era footage -- is worth paying the extra for BD. . .

I thought this was a good question from the other day. Can anyone shed a little light on how Battle Royales are booked? My guess is that there's a few key elimination spots that get planned in advance, but for the most part the guys are told to wing it.

How about The Rock showing up on a WWWF-themed episode of That 70's Show -- playing his father.

I think KISS over the years is a good example to compare to Flair. You know you were gonna get Gene spitting blood, Ace shooting bottle rockets from his guitar, Paul talking about sex, etc. They might change the order, but they always had to get in their signature spots -- people expected it. And they made it work. Cary Grant had several gimmicks he worked over the years. But John Wayne's a good example of a guy who worked the same match for 40 years. Even in the rare times when he went tweener or almost heel (Red River, Searchers), he was still John Fucking Wayne. Wayne = Hogan

I shouldn't wonder if The Rock in 2003 was incapable of doing anything but making the crowd love him? He tried to be a dick, as I said, and somewhere along the match realized it wasn't working. So he started overdoing it a bit. You guys are right that Goldberg doesn't come out of the match looking GREAT, but short of a squash match -- which would never have gone over with Rocky -- what else could they have done? You could blame Rocky for not managing the crowd, but I think he tried to do so. He would have had to kill a kitten and smack a little girl around, and even then it's possible the crowd would have come over to his side and started believing in kitten and child abuse. I'll look into that Jericho match you guys mention. I should have know that when Jericho is on, he's been one of the smarter WWF workers. And he didn't have Rock's star power to fight against in terms of managing a crowd.

Some quick comments re Davey Richards June and July 2012 matches: Callihan match: SLOW THE FECK DOWN! You can't build to anything if you start the match at 100 mph with nothing but power spots and finishers. And making stressed faces while holding a submission is not drama. Although I watched the whole match, I found myself rolling my eyes and not caring about either guy through most of it. Finlay match: Gotta agree with those folks who are saying this is one of Davey's best ever matches. Finlay forces him to start slow, work some on the mat, and take some genuine punishment. This is the veteran teaching a younger guy about respect. In the end, Davey gets the pinfall after some crappy offense. I do like the final sequence that led to the pin, though. God bless Finlay.

What did happen with Kizarny? Clearly he got some heat backstage for whatever reason. I have heard interviews with him where he just buries Vince and WWE as being worthless. Did he get a big head at the time, or something? Try to fuck Stephanie? What?

Demolition vs Kane, with a Tony Kozina RESPECT-in?

How does polka dot Dusty hold up?

Sounds fantastic. I haven't bought any since the 1996 set for funds reasons, but I think I will follow some of the guys in this thread and jump in chronologically.

Ha, that's awesome dude. Well, that Chapman video is one of the greatest rasslin videos I have ever seen.

When I watched Bulldogs vs Rougeaus from Summerslam 88, I thought the Bulldogs were not good. Their moves were okay, but they didn't give anything to the R's. There was no sense to me that they were working together with their opponents to make a great match. I thought they felt like legit bullies. (and they were the Face team) Is that just a weak match? Or perhaps the fellas had weakened by 1988? Or too roid-ragey to play nice?

Goldberg vs Mark Henry -- 10/06/03, RAW http://youtu.be/6m-Z7z0C-q4 Well, after being talked into checking out some of the other Goldberg 2003 matches, I decided to start by indulging my man crush on Mark Henry. Looks like Goldie has won the title since we last checked in, from HHH at Unforgiven. That's what I get for watching out of order. This match runs for about 5 min before ending on a run-in, and it's actually pretty good. Henry plays it like a monster, attacking Goldberg as he enters the ring and not really letting up. My favorite is the shoulder breaker -- it sells Henry as seriously strong. Goldberg gets some good shots in, too. Most interesting, perhaps, are the keylock that Henry uses and the armbar from Goldberg -- good for them for trying to mix it up a bit. Goldberg gets his big babyface pop when he finally bodyslams Henry. Not bad, Fellas. Everyone comes out of this one looking good. Goldberg vs Ric Flair -- 8/04/03, RAW Special referee Randy Orton means this won't end well for Goldberg. Jesus, Flair looked old and flabby even in 2003. He works a pretty smart match here, using sneak attacks, brass knucks, and Orton's help to try to put down Goldberg. Goldberg is tough to beat, though. He tosses Flair around like he's a cruiserweight. (Seriously, is there any reason Flair needed to be bumping this much for a man his age?) More of an angle than a match. Michaels runs in at the end to knock out Orton and help end the match, but not before he almost makes out with Goldberg in the ring. Another good job protecting Goldberg and putting over your heels.