Matt D

I agree with that. I remember the story of Sting asking Flair not long into their run why they did the same match every night, and Flair told him people want to see the familiar spots and feel disappointed when they don't get them. Well Flair tells a story where he saw someone Buddy Rogers? Ray Stevens? Someone, as a kid and they didn't do some of their spots and he was hugely disappointed. And that basically shaped his wrestling "psychology" for the rest of his life.

In some ways Page is Savage's soulmate when it comes to putting together a match.

I forget who said it, but SOMEONE had a theory that Flair would keep guys like Sting almost dependent upon him through the way he called the matches with them.

You almost wonder if the injury didn't force Sting to improve.

And who I gushed about in 01-02 when he came out with a Britney Spears cut out at the local indy. Tons of charisma and it never ever transfers on TV for some reason.

Kimberly is hilarious in this.

It didn't need to be. He was pushed SO well in the first half of 09. He felt like a big deal. Then he got moved to Raw which was the death knell for so many ECW guys. I think he was still redeemable after winning the title, and was a lot of fun, if not particularly effective when it came to his stuff with Show. Ah well.

So, just to be completely clear here, it was Flair/Luger which drew over the mystery of the Black Scorpion? because people freaking love mysteries.

Whatever it was. IT WORKED. Re: Meltzer: Highest drawing wrestling show on TBS through at least the end of 94 or so: 9/90 Mountain Madness Clash of Champions headlined by Sting vs. Black Scorpion and Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger which drew 2,769,000 households

Meltzer's bios are so informative but at the same time they're structurally maddening. He goes in circles with them, usually getting to where the proper chronological beginning would be about half way through.

The stuff I'd want to make these are usually the weird, outlandish, "did this really happen?" sort of things that I don't think people are aware of. and that's not the point of the sets at all. Nor should it be. So that Big Sky vs Van Hammer didn't make the 93 set, or Dusty in a Witch's hat didn't make the 95 set, well.. that's okay. I'd probably even be okay with Piper v Perfect not making the 90 set, because really, how important/essential IS a throw-away house show match that just happens to be one of the best matches either guy had in the Fed in the face of everything else that happened that year?

In 1989 Beefcake main evented Summerslam. On that card, the only faces at his level or higher (discounting Demolition) were Hogan, Duggan and Warrior. Summerslam 1999, the top faces were: Austin, Mankind and Rock. With Kane probably trailing behind.

To me one of the biggest issues is whether or not we have two major belts. It's pretty obvious to me that guys like Swagger/Christian/Henry/Jeff Hardy wouldn't have won the Championship if there was only one belt, but I think guys like CM Punk/Booker/JBL and yeah, probably Edge would be doubtful too. The Brand Split doesn't just mean there's a second belt for someone else to get. It also dilutes the brands so that a guy lower in the card is instantly boosted up.

WWF - 8/24/96 - Toronto - Shawn Michaels vs Goldust - Ladder Match http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x648yr_sh...ladder-ma_sport Better VQ but only 2/3 of the match: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwPrrO-p32o I can see why this match is slept upon. The term "ladder match" creates a certain set of expectations, and those expectations were even more prevalent a few years ago. In this match the craziest bump has nothing to do with the ladder and there's only one real jump off of it. The first half of the match, the ladder doesn't even come into play. It's still really good though, and in some ways more structured and better than most ladder matches. Michaels' intensity in the beginning is great. I've seen very little WWF in 96, actually, so I'm not sure if he started most of his matches with that or not. He has this brutal looking chairshot early on when Goldust is going for the ladder the first time, which sort of explains why the ladder doesn't play much of a role for the first half of the match (as Dustin paid bigtime for trying to get it too early). Dustin's punches and general offense look great. Michaels bumps big for him, including one crazy no-hands catapult over the top rope. When the ladder comes into play it's mainly just a prop that Dustin uses to enhance his attack on Michaels' back and he finds smart ways to use it that aren't all that dangerous but look really good. The teases of the finishers are fun for the time. One transition where Goldust sidesteps a roll up in the corner is actually pretty neat. They do a good job at cutting off comebacks and timing everything well. I wish Shawn didn't do this floatover out of a move (twice Curtain call, once slam, once suplex) as a reversal. Three times sort of worked and led into the finish. Four times frustrated me. It's a fancam and cuts now and again towards the end but it's minimal and you can generally figure out what little bits you missed with ease (though at one point Shawn gets his foot stuck in the rope and I kind of wish what happened immediately thereafter had been retained). All in all, a really fun ladder match.

Basically, if you're going to push it, articulate it.

I really need to get back to 08 ECW. I started it and then got distracted by... I'm not even going to say what I got distracted by because it's so outside my usual oeuvre that it borders on the unbelievable. And I'm also not sure if I'm even capable of sticking with it. ECW 08 is much more in my wheelhouse.

Wahoo.

Hmmm, I thought he was down to JTTS level, he was in the WM2 battle royal but at the Big Event he jobbed out pretty quickly to Harley Race. I looked it up on Wikipedia, though, and it looks like he made it all the way to the finals of the King Of The Ring that year, so I guess he still had some name value at that point. There's a level above the JTTS. The wrestler who is over but in the midcard. He is not getting pushed. While the JTTS puts over a wrestler in a single match, the next level of wrestler puts the other over in a feud. Usually to set up a feud against a higher wrestler. Thinking of Chief Jay Strongbow in the 1970s, Jake Roberts in the 1980s, Santana in the early '90s. The JTTS match is rarely hyped. Usually it's filler. Sure, I was thinking Morales was a JTTS but on further research he would be more at lower level midcard. You see him getting the IC title shot and deep in your heart of hearts you know he isn't getting the belt but you still cheer for him. Sort of like when the British Bulldogs were getting the title shots against Demoliton as they were winding down their run. With the JTTS, the ending is just a foregone conclusion and that's it. Difference is that Bulldogs got at least a tiny TV angle against Demos.

That's pretty much what I'm talking about. Though the other one is on the LENGTH of the reign, which was set in stone from the beginning too. So now Bix can come in and debunk or confirm to the best of his knowledge.

You have to admit the idea that Graham would WANT to turn makes some sense, but he would have never gotten past the wall of... Wait, is(are) Vince Sr's promise(s) to Backlund true?

I think he was gone soon after the whole Earthquake/Bravo vs Hogan/Tugboat feud. I don't remember him being around much in 1991. He came back shortly in 1992 (during European tours I think) having one really good match with Bret Hart in Germany, and was not hired back. Odd he never tried his hand at WCW, but he probably didn't had any connection, as the Rougeaus and Martel worked in WWF at the time. I always thought his push was due to Patterson, no?

I find the early 90s Freebirds pretty fascinating, in how they were booked, how many chances they were given, the fact both Hayes and Garvin were pretty smart guys when it came to psychology and wrestling in general so they couldn't be COMPLETELY deluded, the music video/live performance disaster, the match vs the Dynamic Dudes where they were hugely cheered, Badstreet/Fantasia, Big Daddy Dink, Precious as the behind the scenes GM, the weirdness with the late Johnny B Badd match, JR's complete and utter lack of caring when Jimmy Garvin was announced as the mystery Freebird. It's a three year trainwreck basically.

I'm watching this period right now, and yes, the RnR's offense does look dated compared to the new blowjob tag teams of Dynamic Dudes, Zenk & Pillman and Southern Boys. But they are still an excellent working team despite the lack of new exciting offense. And the double dropkick was still over when they did it, so it shows that everything is perception. That said, I would have loved to get the Rockers thrown in this mix, opposing Doom and the MX. Looking back, and especially how over the MX were as faces, I would have really liked to see RnR turn heel at that point, annoyed with the fans cheering the Midnights.

I think at the time, Foley would have felt like a disappointment too. I was there live that night and anything less of a surprise/reveal than Jake would have been disappointing. http://www.oocities.org/joziejones/hpall62.html amusing thing google dragged up.

And it was better than, let's say Duggan's running clothesline out of the three point stance (because he used clotheslines throughout the match), but that was super over. Neither here nor there, but I felt bad for the RnRs when they came back in 90, because they were still using the Double Dropkick. Well and good except for the fact that as opposed to 1985, every babyface team had that as just a regular move. The Dynamic Dudes were doing it in the middle of a match. THAT hurt things.