Matt D

Argh. Double post. Sorry.

I get where John is coming from but I really enjoyed that. Heyman is Heyman but some of those are questions I don't think anyone else who was in position to ask them would have thought to ask. Great job.

I am so glad you guys wanted to end things on a high note because I saw I had ten minutes left and ten more minutes of Russo talk would have killed me. Oh there is the Austin vs Dustin mention. Well played.

With the baby, if I get a total of five hours, that's not bad. Collection-wise, I have the Dangerous Alliance comp, the AWA set, and a hell of a lot of youtube?

I bet Johnny can smell out a narc.

Found 1969: http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbc...ic;f=9;t=005032 and 1968: http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbc...0999;p=1#000018

8-10 sounds like a pretty good number for me too. "watch" is a relative term, mind you.

Yohe has posted results for LA in those years. They're likely buries somewhere on Classics. http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbc...c;f=10;t=002319 I found the results for 65 if anyone's interested. and here's 66: http://wrestlingclassics.com/cgi-bin/.ubbc...ic;f=9;t=004886

Has Yohe or anyone else ever gone into more detail about Morales' LA main eventing in the mid 60s?

I rather liked Steamboat vs Rude from the 88 Rumble, but you could tell Rude wasn't quite there yet. It was still a pretty good performance though.

It was a fun interview. I loved the talk about payoffs. I think the Dolph thing is easily the most interesting, but the bs on the timing on when Lawler became an announcer is pretty fascinating. If he replaced anyone, it was Hennig. Hell his first year of Supertars was a three man team WITH Savage. While he worked some cards, he wasn't really a focused wrestler til he'd been in the company for almost six years with KOTR 93.

Stupid question: I know NYC is sort of bulletproof in some ways, but did the 73-75 recession affect WWWF business at all?

Neither here nor there but I wish someone else would watch the Buddy vs Stasiak matches since I liked Stan's stchick there and wonder if he has a bum rap. He is not a super worker but he wasn't trying to be either.

As a kid I felt the same way about Regal but especially Finlay, who I hated being in the mix in 98. I am about thirty minutes in. NWA in 86-88 is a bit of a blind spot for me so I am typing this on the blackberry as I listen. I honestly think Charles and Will have great chemistry. I will admit I get Tully's TV and US title runs in 85 a little confused, but to me the biggest element to him in that run (and later with 91 Austin so we will see if you get to that) was his vulnerability. One element of the TV belt is the possibility that the challenger always has a chance on TV and I love something like the Kernoodle match with Tully since you had the sense that Tully was just fighting to hang on. Austin in 91 was all about the ten minute time limit. Zenk as the "guy who hangs out with the guys with the skateboards" is hilarious. I am an hour in now. The only thing I would add around Arn/Eaton is that there was a real division for the tv title at the end of 90 to when Austin gets it. Arn/Taylor/Eaton/Zenk were really in the mix for a few months and it is a real highlight of that era I think. Granted, all of that hit as a sweet spot for me as a kid, just like the way Austin's weekly matches vs the world (from Arachnaman to the Yellow Dog) did. It seemed like he had two-three title defenses every weekend, between SN, Main Event, Pro, Worldwide, Power Hour. I think his ppv match with Dustin was a huge deal for Dustin too, even only as a challenger. It was his first really big singles match. They also used Austin to make Bagwell in that great angle with Paul E. The "looked like second rate Flair, wrestled like a second rate Arn" is a great talking point. Hour-twenty in. What is striking to me about Regal is that he was only in his mid-twenties there. He carried himself as much older and more seasoned. The Barbarian vs face Regal match is not as necessary to watch as the Windham one but it is a great novelty. Ok, I have to stop for now but I hit the Windham part. 93 Windham is the only time post Florida where I really think he works as an Ace. He had the NWA belt and I think he was super inspired by that right until the writing of the wall shows up with him losing to Flair. He has the Regal match, the Scorpio match, the Lone Wolf thing going on, a great sit down interview with Solie, these bullrope and bunkhouse matches with Dustin I WISH we had on tape. You know what his NWA title run is sort of like actually? It's like a TV title run on steroids. He has these matches with guys like Zenk and Johnny Gunn where he just has this "big deal" presence to him. Also, I think saying he didn't get over in the WWF in 89 and he has a terrible run is iffy at best. What do we have that made tape? The really even, really hard-worked Tito vs Windham PTW match that I like a lot. Past that, he didn't get to do squat because Vince didn't trust him after how he left during his first run. If he had stayed into 90 he might have been put into a more interesting spot or given a program (though i agree with the rumor debunking that he wasn't getting Hennig's spot vs Hogan). There just aren't a lot of matches. I wish we had some of those Koko matches on tape.

I don't think that amateur credentials count for anything in the WON HOF. Even with the pros? You didn't think Angle got in, in part, because he made the whole fraternity look look good and more legitimate?

Ok, I think the guy who hates Flair and Dusty is sort of an island unto himself. I think Flair has flaws but I still love him for being Flair.

Chris, I forget. Do you have a central place (blog, site, etc) that you keep this stuff?

Still top 5 though, baby! It is actually kind of surprising how thin the elite US tag teams are. I agree those were two other teams I would put in my Top 5. Tully & Arn have longevity issues and Fantastics while they were great with MX, I can't think of many other tag matches they had were great with different teams. I think those are easier arguments for the Rockers, but I would not begrudge anyone having those teams over the Rockers. So where do the High Flyers rate vs the Rockers now? I wish we had more (any) Hennig/Race, and more Valentine/Flair and more 70s Bock/Stevens.

Can I vote Arn?

Is Dusty still polarizing? I think most of us love him in our own way. We're a long way from 1987.

He decimated his leg!

Did they make any of those titles for him or were they preexisting?

Where did this comparison come from?

To be fair, Morton > Michaels but Jannetty > Gibson so much more that I should probably have voted Rockers. The math just isn't that simple though.

Can you tell from watching this that Wilkes doesn't have a tricep?