Matt D

the 00s Hogan is what, Dog the Bounty Hunter?

Graham's site says: WWF @ London, England - Arena - October 10, 1989 (sell out) Debut in the UK Mark Rocco, Dave Finlay, & Skull Murphy defeated Dale Wolfe, Al Perez, & Tim Horner

I feel like I keep telling people to watch that Bulldog vs Nord sprint that's on youtube and no one ever does. Freaking everyone.

I definitely think he was the weaker part of that Harper match, though, especially towards the end of the match in his final comeback, so if they had to have one guy or the other I'm glad they have Brodie (and it's an interesting comparison since they were born a week apart apparently).

I feel like I went on and on last year about how many good matches we had. It might have been the year before though.

Man, i can't wait til they try to have my kid read the Scarlet Letter in school so I can tear them a new one.

This week had the 20 minute one.

How about Luke Harper in that Ohno match though? Huh? Huh? No one?

Yeah, Harley is action-packed. Parv didn't even mention his bumping.

This note hurts my head.

This would have bothered me immensely in 2001.

Story says that Hogan wanted nothing to do with him in WWF since he worked too stiff the first time they worked. Let me see if I can find anything.

You have to remember back then that there were less titles and they changed much less frequently. I think the big coronations were more than a European champion ever got. That said, it's probably less than being TV champ since that was defended so frequently. Getting the King mantle was almost like winning a gimmick. It still meant more than the Million Dollar Belt since that basically only changed hands once.

Ah, you did. I was looking at the Ace post. There's a lot of text to parse here. Unrelated but does Taker (and maybe currently Brock) function more as an Andre-in-the-territories sort of special attraction right now?

Don't people usually credit Savage vs Flair for turning around WCW business in 96?

Late match selling. I can't get over how great he is at wearing the weight of a brutal match upon his shoulders. He may have the best "body language" I've ever seen. It's not something we often think about, or at least that we often talk about, but holy crap is his great.

So many never taped Coal Miner's Glove matches.

And how much more impressive would it have been if they had been able to turn the crowd around?

I guess I look at a match on a lot of levels if I'm really trying to break it down. Part of that is "did it work," or "did it accomplish what it set out to do." I've seen tv matches that were there to tell a story that set up a house show or to set up an angle or to get over a specific wrestler in a specific way. Did the crowd buy what they were selling. It's important. I don't think it's as important as "Did it work for me?" though, because this is business, yes, but it's also art and art is in the eye of the beholder. I think it's part of the context of understanding a match. Now, then, sometimes you can get swept away with a crowd and other times you can be frustrated with a crowd and it becomes a noticeable annoyance. This is especially true the first time you see a match I think. I think ultimately, for me, it's more of a performance thing. If they're moving the crowd, I want to figure out how and why and whether it's something they're actively doing or some passive wave they're riding. If they're not moving the crowd, why is that? Is it something that I think they're doing wrong or are they just in a toxic environment? Moreover, if they are in a toxic environment and they're moving the crowd, is it because of something extraordinary that they're doing? Guys like Goldust are able to get a reaction out of a modern crowd that they almost shouldn't be able to. I think it's more important to me to see how a wrestler is working a crowd than to get swept up in the cheers, is what I'm trying to say. "Big Match Feel" is one of the least important things in wrestling to me. I like "Good Match Feel" better.

And here I was excited because I just found it here of all places: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?show...t&p=2741132 Yep, you guys managed a whole two pages of discussion in 2005. Charles' "Should get in/should not get in" list is pretty interesting though. Thanks, Bix.

I honestly think Warrior doesn't need a ring general. He just needs to follow an agent's instructions.

Everyone (see: Will) should check out Harper vs Ohno from NXT this week: http://www.hulu.com/watch/555326#i0,p177,d0. It's easily Harper's best showcase with some great punches (One fun thing about NXT is that the camera guys/editors don't QUITE have the "oh god we have to cut away from the punch" timing down yet, so you usually see the punch and they cut the next second), these awesome dickish instep kicks, a surprisingly great cravat, and tons of little things (ring positioning into the corner to cut off a hope spot, moving Ohno around the ring with his head, just lingering with his foot on the top rope after a big boot to the outside transition). I don't love Ohno's late match selling but that might be because I've been watching too much Sangre Chicana lately. To me, it's much more of a Harper showcase but it's really well worth watching. He had the Punk match on Monday and I think a Bryan match for tomorrow too so it's sort of his week.

Is that online somewhere? A quick google search gave me a dead link. I think I found the Ray Mendoza one though.

So we don't have every episode of Portland TV, right? What we have is great. What we're missing is this: 3/8/80 Portland - Handicap Match - Andre The Giant & Roddy Piper beat Buddy Rose & Ron Bass & Butch Miller & Luke Williams God dammit.