Matt D

Gary Oldman. I can't explain it, but he could do it.

I have no idea what DREAM is, but I just watched a Doink promo I thought was awesome! At least I'm on the right board, title-wise, right?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeNSBPi5e14...be&t=12m38s I will be AMAZED if I come across a WWF promo in 93 I dig more than this.

And then we'll start making WBF complaints!

I think 35% is pretty damn reasonable. Alternatively, I think as someone who is a pro wrestling fan and doesn't care a lick about MMA, stories matter to me only so far as they DIRECTLY affect what will happen in wrestling in the future.

That he couldnt talk about but was bracing for it mentally. WWE Network? Vince stepping down? MMA crap? If it's the same thing I heard about yesterday and was sworn to secrecy on, it's definitely not #1 or #2. #3 depends on your definition of "MMA crap." I can't really say more than that but it is big. (And if it's a separate story then this is going to be a big day) I think MMA crap would be defined as "anything that has to do with MMA with less than a 35% pro wrestling component."

I'm not sure if Punk learned anything in developmental but he's sure as hell a lot better now than he was in 2008. Watch the Punk vs Jericho matches vs this year and then the KOTR Punk vs Jericho (or ECW Punk vs Benjamin which is even worse) match from 08. They're trying to accomplish the same thing but there's a hell of a lot more restraint and nuance and common sense.

I never gave Hogan any credit as a kid. Never. I remember watching The UNREAL story of Professional Wrestling on A&E as a teenager and hearing one of the old timers say that he only knew three moves and probably shouted "Thank you!" at the TV. But I probably saw Hogan vs Giant RIGHT after the heel turn a few years after it happened and while I didn't love the match I did love Hogan's chickenshit heel performance. He was holding it in for years and you could tell.

How do you feel about the 12-29-91 Hogan/Flair match?

Anyone (Dylan?) want to chime in on Drew vs Christian from Superstars?

Tenta was a great combination of knowing when to give and what to give, having super credible offense including one of the best elbow drops in the history of wrestling, and being super strong and athletic.

You'd be surprised how much of America still didn't have cable television in the early 90's Nah, it was way worse in England.

Best Ottman match I can suggest right now is Summerslam 92 Disasters vs Beverly Brothers. Totally slept on match. Honestly, the disasters were pretty great. I don't think there's anyone in 92 WWF I would rather watch than Quake. He was the Mark Henry of the early 90s. Maybe Nord. Typhoon also had the best big splash in wrestling history. And there's ONE jobber match in 92 where he does this crazy cool double underhook roll-back move that he never does again. Best jobber match of theirs is 10/3/92 vs Horowitz and Bob Bradley.

Earthquake was a "fan in the crowd" (I'm assuming that's what you're thinking of). The angle was a push-up contest between Warrior and Bravo, they found a big man in the crowd (Tenta), who jumped on Warrior when his push-ups were attempted, and debuted right away as a heel. I don't recall Tugboat turning on Hogan. They fought during that battle royale in 1991, but I don't recall a full-fledged turn. The turn I recall was on Superstars against the Bushwhackers. If memory serves, it was Tugboat and the Bushwhackers against Earthquake and whoever Jimmy Hart's team was (I'm assuming the Nasty Boys). The rationale was, of course, that Hogan didn't visit Tugboat when he was in the hospital. And there is this, months later: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNkmwtixtXs

Sorry, i meant it worked as in they were entertaining working against each other and I thought they had chemistry, and in this specific case, I only brought that up because the poster had groaned heavily just at the thought of them working a Summerslam program and I thought that was a bit of an overreaction. I don't think we'd have a repeat of the end result of the previous program after all. Punk is in a very different place now and Show has a very different role. I can't imagine he keeps the huge push after Summerslam. He's being built up to be fed to Cena and then Punk now. After that, they should probably feed him to Brodus and then shift him back down the card or into a tag role or something.

That's what Jesse was best at. He'd catch Vince in a morality trap and point out something absolutely valid and Vince would just go "Well, i don't know about that, but..."

Punk and Show worked well enough two years ago. It was a pretty entertaining program even if Show went over a little too much, maybe. It should be interesting to see how they'd work with the roles reversed. That said I'm not sure if I'd rather see that or the previously rumored Punk vs Tensai. Probably Show.

One thing I've noticed about 1985 is that he really doesn't give Crockett much attention at all. Not compared to WWF, Texas, Mid-South, and even the AWA. Did he just not have contacts there or what?

re: IRS, He really loved when the fans chanted IRWIN

The Early Raws are a good place to see some of Vince's feelings, because Bartlett would just go after anyone in any way he could. Like outright making fun of the Undertaker, and then Vince had to respond.

I think the classic example of this is the Killer Bees.

I think it's a useful term only in describing the fairly monolithic online internet community between 96-01 or so. You know, the "heirs of Meltzer." I may be facetious here.

I thought he already had three. Hey, if I can see where El-P is coming from (And I do. I just think he's going to find more frustration in his future), you can see where I'm coming from. I love match structure. I love reverse engineering why and how guys do what they do. An obstacle to overcome is pretty fascinating to me in this situation. It'll probably make for a worse match but I'm okay with that after the match we got last PPV.

So why is the rest gibberish too then, huh?

I think one thing I was getting at is that I sort of see that as an intellectual exercise for Bryan and Punk, like a writing challenge you do to stretch your mental muscles. I'm kind of interested in seeing that. I feel like it's the sort of scenario that doesn't come up in wrestling all that often. (Danielson vs Kamala was one and did that ever work out poorly). I want to see them crack that Triple Threat problem. That said, I have no idea WHY they're doing it other than lack of faith in Punk vs Bryan. I was talking to Mark about it and he thought it was a no-brainer that it was a way to get the belt onto DB without Punk eating the fall, but I'm not sure I buy that.