Sean Liska

I'm at the point where I haven't enjoyed anything as much as NXT since 2004-2008 ROH. And I have my least interest in WWE since the HHH 20 minute promo days of 2003. It's funny the comparison has already been made because the crowd responses for Gable/Jordan and Zayn brought Attitude flashbacks.

Re watching the Dawson/Wilder-Enzo/Cass match. Such a loving tribute to 80s tag wrestling with a mix of 2015. NXT is so much better than anything else in wrestling. No one hated 2003 HHH more than me but tough to have negative feelings right now. If I'm a mark for being tricked into enjoying his vanity project than please keep tricking me.

It's amazing how these shows are always 2 hours of little things done right that I don't get anywhere else in wrestling. It's like HHH would be a great poster here breaking down what works with 85 Continental.

I'm not sure they got Reigns over the hump and it's smooth sailing now. They used every possible trick over 24 hours to get him a big pop and it worked. They once got a crowd to go nuts because Big Show helped the Rhodes Brothers beat The Shield. But Roman's still going to have to go out there every week going forward and win the crowd over on his own merits. Things could be ugly again by the Rumble.

I get what you're saying. CMLL hasn't put him in much high-profile stuff in 2015 and it's tough to say he's one of the best in the world this year. But god, just when he gets 4 minutes in a trio match with somebody decent, he's so much more entertaining than almost anyone wrestling. It's enough to know he's still a top-10 talent even if CMLL booking doesn't give him that platform. Give me 4 minutes of Negro making magic with Dragon Lee over some NJPW main event that drags for the first 20 minutes.

Owens lost weight for his NXT debut but has gained a lot of it back since then. His belly jiggles a bit much for the vibe he's going for. I drink and eat a ton and don't exercise nearly as much as Owens and my gut is nowhere near his level. What is he doing for meals? I'm a fan of the guy, but come on, throw in the occasional chicken breast or salad.

Imagine Xavier Woods having a run in 1983 Memphis giving grief to Lance Russell.

The more I watch from the past 28 years, the more I'm convinced he should be #1. If we actually had more of his 80s stuff, going off of what we do have, it may not even be a debate. I call Memphis the most relentlessly entertaining wrestling TV show of all-time. Negro is the most relentlessly entertaining wrestler of all-time. 98% of the stuff he does in the ring is worth watching because he's so damn fun in everything he does.

Cena was very much helped by only coming to town twice a year as a special occasion. Very different from coming back every month and your gate depending on the heat of your main event program.

Why has WWE been able to draw a consistent level of attendance under Cena for ten years? Lack of alternatives? Or just that they aren't peaking at as high of a level?

She wouldn't face this backlash if she came through the indy scene and was known as a big admirer of 80s JCP. Even if she was just as bad.

Sunny was actually pretty talented. Very good stuff in SMW and 96 WWF. Not bad at all as a stuck up heel.

The Ricky Morton/Ken Lucas team is the highlight of 1980 Memphis TV. Ricky was the best. He could have been great with anyone. It's not like Gibson was Kobashi.

They didn't technically sell out because of some crazy-priced tickets but it was the biggest gate in wrestling history.

The problem right now is we don't know how the hell to analyze WWE numbers. Mania caused the Network to peak at over 1.3 million. Is that a positive for Lesnar's candidacy? The SummerSlam match with Taker made it so they only lost a few hundred thousand subscribers between Mania and the end of September. I mean, that seems pretty good to me, but we don't have any way to know what the drop would have been with a weaker match on top.

If Nak was "on top" during a "peak time", then Orton should be in for having the same role in a company twenty times bigger.

But Vince is still in charge (for now), and he seems relentless, even to this day, about favoring the Bodybuilders over the "athlete" types. Roman Reigns was a 3-year starter for a solid D1 football program. Rollins is a pretty impressive athlete. These guys aren't the Warlord.

Let's not act like lucha isn't tougher to get into. Big lucha shows happen right across our border, we used to get multiple hours on national cable every week. And it's never had the following in the hardcore fan community that puro has. People were more willing to drive to Japanese supermarkets to watch 3-week old puro in the 90's than to just watch Galavision. It's never had any real traction here outside of when Dave went crazy for AAA in the mid-90's and kind of with the Mistico peak. I say that as a big fan. But it's not like people who struggle with it just aren't trying hard enough. It's tough.

JVK - I feel like you would love the big Panther-Casas match from a few years back. And pretty much anything where Casas has a big role. He's a great gateway to lucha.

Sadly, some people around here had predicted just that after Mania, even before the end of the Cena feud. Yeah, pretty pathetic. I don't know. It's like being surprised that Vince Sr had a really hot heel and then he lost his program with Bruno and the heel wasn't as hot anymore. How far can you take a monster heel with an undefeated gimmick? The whole point is for him to lose to the valiant face and move down the card.

I do remember seeing a WON recap from this site from around 84 where he said Memphis and Mid-South were the only things keeping him watching American wrestling. So he wasn't that negative during the good days.

Imagine it being as simple as that. Before I discovered this board, I don't think I ever encountered effusive praise for Bill Dundee. Let's not pretend he's some universally revered super worker. I was just very surprised. It's like if I was on The Board trying to tell someone how good Tully Blanchard was back in the day, and Dave came in and said he wasn't much of a worker. I didn't realize Dundee was polarizing.

This is Dick Murdoch redux in terms of the quality of the argument. But Dave probably hasn't watched Memphis TV from the '80s since the '80s. So honestly, who gives a shit what he thinks about Dundee's work? We know better. He's broadly correct about how important Lawler was, however. Is our love of Dundee a more modern view? Was he not well-regarded in the 80's. When I watch 80's Memphis he's an easy Top 50 all-time pick, I just assumed Dave would be with me.

I asked Dave about Dundee and got this, I don't know what world I'm living in anymore - "I saw Dundee live too many times to be enamored of him. But, he was a very good promo. There was a reason Crockett would only use him as a butler and Watts ordered him out of the ring when he was booker."