Matt D

Lawler was the best at selling an upcoming show while talking about his Softball team, certainly. Did anyone get exactly what he wanted out of wrestling better than him?

How viable was Slater? He was seen as sort of a Terry Funk clone inside the business, no?

I still don't have a good sense of what heels Dusty feuds with in Florida from 75-82 or so.

That's the thing with 81. I can think of way more guys for 83-84 and I think we might be missing a few who were hot in the late 70s but not so much later.

NXT is on the free version of Hulu, though I could imagine that they'd block it in foreign countries such as Texas.

Are you totally discounting the NXT women's roster or something? I'm not digging for the pics of young Paige meeting Goldust or young Bailey decked out in her Hardy Boyz gear and I'm sure rovert would love to come in and tell you about what's her face. And Sasha Banks isn't great but they still pulled her from Kowalski's school and the indies and I suppose there's some inherent value to Charlotte (and Shaul Guerrero if she's on her way back in). What I said. I see a bunch of female wrestlers coming up in the system who are fans or not just in this for the fame, who have experience already or are second generation (and Paige is as well). The entire next generation of "divas" seems to fit into that. The ones that might not completely are being taught to really work their character into their matches and to work focused, narrative-driven short matches that have been consistently good. Emma and Summer Rae are excellent at working their characters into their matches, way better than even a lot of guys on the NXT roster like Neville and Graves (they had a 2/3 falls this week which was really lacking in in that, even though it was sound in other ways). The Bailey/Charlotte vs Rae/Banks match from this week was a ton of fun. Bailey, through body language and working her character, garnered a ton of sympathy, to the point where the crowd was audibly shocked when Charlotte turned on her. I'm not super high on Banks or Charlotte either, though I'm enjoying Banks more as a heel. Maybe the current crop of Divas that just got brought up are frustrating, but there's a half dozen in the farm system that aren't, whether that's due to Del Ray's training or what, and I think it's pretty obvious that since this is Hunter's baby, they're going to be fairly well insulated. While on the topic of NXT, I also think you should go back to last week and watch Harper vs Ohno if you haven't yet, Will. I think you'd really like Harper's stuff in that match.

Wasn't a lot of it hedging against Video rental places just buying the cheaper home version and using it to rent out?

Personally, I'm not too worried about your point because I see how things are shaping up in developmental.

I think she'll be ok.

Billy Robinson!

Are you totally discounting the NXT women's roster or something? I'm not digging for the pics of young Paige meeting Goldust or young Bailey decked out in her Hardy Boyz gear and I'm sure rovert would love to come in and tell you about what's her face. And Sasha Banks isn't great but they still pulled her from Kowalski's school and the indies and I suppose there's some inherent value to Charlotte (and Shaul Guerrero if she's on her way back in).

Grimmas is a guy who should never be referred to by his real name.

I'm in the midst of the lucha set. Masks and missing fingers and/or eyes are awesome.

I think if they offered it, Lawler would have jumped at it though. If Bill Eadie doesn't work, my new answer is Johnny Walker.

Something something Hillbilly Jim.

My new answer is Bill Eadie.

Money in the Bank 2011/Summerslam 2011 is a good 1-2 punch but Night of Champions really just has the Mark Henry win going for it. Honestly Capital Punishment had a Christian vs Orton match and Rey vs Punk so maybe that's better. Either way neither hits the mark I think.

Everyone, this is Kevin and this is his first time in group. Can everyone say "Hi Kevin."

My final answer is Sam Oliver Bass.

Had Piper done enough yet?

Wait, when in 1998 WCW did guys like Bryan and Punk get a chance to be the focal point of the show?

I didn't state it well. I guess I wanted to put forth the idea that there are certain elements in a match that are easier to attribute to a wrestler than others (which does not mean you can't do it with the others. It's just more effort and subjectivity) and those attributes seem, to me, to be high on the list of what Dave values.

I know that Race was active in the 60s, especially in the tag team with Hennig, but I really associate him with the 1970s and there are things I specifically associate with the 1970s (having been born in 1981), such as Welcome Back Kotter. For 1970s tough guys though, I think of Harley Race and I think of The French Connection, and I think there's a lot of overlap there. There's some between Race and Dirty Harry too, I guess, but definitely more so with Hackman in French Connection. And pfft. I forgot there was an actor/wrestler note and the original post in that is someone saying "I always thought gene hackman could do harley race." I hadn't looked at it til now when I googled the two names together. I just think that was the sort of persona Harley was trying to put forth. Tough, gritty, but not a roughneck idiot. He knew how the world worked and he'd seen a lot of things and there was an element of world-weariness to Harley Race, World Champion. The world was a sick, sour place, and he'd crawled up to the top of the heap because he understood it better than anyone else.

Is a lot of that the idea that Dave thinks unless you're in the ring with someone, you can't know how good they actually are? Even if you watch a thousand matches? EDIT: except for maybe when it comes to Action (and or the elements Dave tends to gravitate towards. Someone flesh this out or call me out as wrong)?