DocSarpolis

We need to see Dustin comp Vol. 2. I'm not a big fan of the Goldust character that would dominate a volume 2, but he's an increasingly underrated worker. And between the Orton match, the brawl before the multi-man a couple weeks ago, and this, the past few weeks have been outstanding. Match of the night.

I thought it was really well booked. I am not sure if anyone came out of the match looking weak. The setup with RVD (and to a lesser extent, Kofi and PTP) being injured in other matches prior to the main event played out well in the 11 on 3 match. Reigns, Ambrose & Rollins all looked good facing insurmountable odds. They continued building Usos vs. Rollins/Reigns and Ziggler vs. Ambrose with the Reigns and Ambrose eliminations. Prime Time Players had a little segment with the Shield that can be built off of. Even Ryder got in some offense before being pinned. It would have been easy to layout the match so that it came down to Bryan vs. the Shield but I thought the way it actually unfolded was a lot better. Not to discredit the wrestling in the match which was very good, but I thought the overall booking of the match was really the strong point. It was really well done and not necessarily in a way that WWE usually does things. Seriously. I understand some of the complaints that some are having about various aspects of the match, but this was one of the most entertaining matches of the year. So much fun. Red hot crowd, everybody working their ass off, great individual segments, great apron work. This was outstanding fun.

Truth

I've been contemplating getting the package deal to go to WrestleMania 30 this year. The price is dramatically cheaper with the more people that you have in your party. And, with today being the day that they went on sale, all but 2 of us flaked. So, a buddy of mine and myself are looking for a couple of other fans who are looking to get in on the 4 person silver package. Anyone interested?

Truth Th Josh Barnett episodes are outstanding. Particularly part 1.

!!!!!!

Just noticing this thread so I'm coming at this discussion terribly late. Furthermore, I have nothing constructive to add that hasn't already been stated. Just wanted to chime in real quick and say that I LOVE this match. One of my favorites. I've seen it numerous times including within the past year and it's aging well for me. LOVE it. One of my all time favorite piledrivers.

This sounds awesome.

Like many, I'm relying on the 80s projects and the 90s Yearbooks to reevaluate my MOTY for those years. That said, here are the few that I'm confident in: 1994: Mitsuharu Misawa vs Toshiaki Kawada (AJPW, 06/03) 2006: Dan Dority v. Captain Turner; Deadwood 7/9/06 2008: Kensuke Office v. Burning, SEM/KO 8/17/08 2009: KENTA & Shiozaki v. Sasaki & Nakajima, NOAH June 22nd 2010: L.A. Park v. El Mesias; AAA 12/5/10 2011: Dick Togo v. Antonio Honda; DDT 1/30/11 2012: Negro Casas v. Blue Panther; CMLL 3/10

And Larry Z sells the crap out of this dynamic with his frustrations. Great stuff.

Thanks again for having me on the show Will. My apologies for having to duck out at halftime. I should have mentioned that the cross section of Bay Area hedonism and AWA wrestling viewing watching for me was two weeks ago when I couldn't do the show because I was touring a fetish porn studio that's operating out of the former San Francisco Armory. You may recall my drunk texts from that Sunday. Quick thoughts on the first half.....the Henning-Bock work is incredible. Anytime they work early sections around headlock take downs and head scissor reversals it is simultaneously the crispest AND most organic example of that classic grappling spot. And Henning's slow burn metamorphosis into heel is some truly outstanding work. The post-match brawl in the Ninja tag is going to help that match dramatically. And Larry Z's phenomenal selling wont hurt. I'm going to catch up on Disc #8 tonight and tomorrow, so that I'm ready for the next show. I've got a busy weekend from a social perspective, but i hope to fit in being on some more shows.

Thanks for the intel on the key. That was secretly driving me nuts. And yeah, the idea of the Dudes having a track off of Paul's Boutique just would have been too close to maybe being hip. I didn't hear what they came out to for this show and completely forgot that it was 'wipe out'.

As I go through this set I've been assembling a 'Best Match', 'Best Promo/Interview', 'Best Angle', and Disc 'MVP'. I thought I'd share: Sarp’s Pix: Disc #1: Best Match: Ric Flair vs. Bobby Eaton (Main Event 1/7/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler + Dirty White Boy + Soul Taker (USWA 1/13/90) Best Angle: Arn Anderson-Buzz Sawyer confrontation (Power Hour 1/12/90) MVP: Jerry Lawler Sarp’s Pix: Disc #2: Best Match: Ric Flair, Arn Anderson & Sting vs. Buzz Sawyer, Dragon Master & Great Muta (Power Hour 1/26/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Pissed Off (USWA 1/27/90) Best Angle: Bill Dundee, Chris Adams & Eric Embry vs. Billy Travis, Gary Young & Skandor Akbar (USWA TX 1/19/90)…Embry-Adams split. MVP: Billy Joe Travis Sarp’s Pix: Disc #3: Best Match: Jushin Liger vs. Naoki Sano (NJPW 1/31/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Interview (USWA 2/3/90) Best Angle: Four Horsemen Interview (Clash 2/6/90)…my complaints about the booking decision, plus the tragedy that was the subsequent Sting injury aside, the Horsemen turn on Sting was well done. MVP: The Black Crows….We get 2 tracks from The Black Crows for our menu music depending upon which page you’re on. ‘Too Hard To Handle’ and ‘Twice as Hard’. Love ‘em both. Sarp’s Pix: Disc #4: Best Match: Genichiro Tenryu & Tiger Mask vs. Riki Choshu & George Takano (NJPW/AJPW 2/10/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Promo (USWA TX 2/10/90) Best Angle: Luger’s face turn (WCWSN 2/17/90) MVP: Ric Flair…Flair had 2 great matches on this disc, but that’s not why I’m going with him. I could just as easily go with Ricky Morton or Bobby Eaton or Brian Pillman as they all had 2 great matches as well. I could also again go with Lawler as he continues to dominate the week-to-week with his heel greatness in USWA. Flair gets the edge for being the lead of the Booking Committee for WCW until he resigned in 2/22/90. In 5 months time, the Flair led Booking Committee (along w/ Jim Cornette & Kevin Sullivan) helped get WCW out of the low point it had been in the Summer of 1989 to its highest ratings since the company’s boom period in 85/86. They would not return to the ratings that they achieved on this disc until 1996. Sure, Flair pushed himself on top, but he was still easily the most talented all-around performer for the company and the reformation of the Horsemen and emerging feud w/ Sting was a boom for the company. Meanwhile, he added a couple of outstanding TV matches against Pillman and a tag w/ Arn vs. the RNRX. Sarp’s Pix: Disc #5: Best Match: Midnight Express vs. Rock & Roll Express (Wrestle War 2/25/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Interview + Furniture (USWA 3/3/90)….I’m going to cheat a bit and say the entirety of his mic work on the 3/3 episode. Plus, it’s not done yet as we go back to it at the start of Disk #6. Best Angle: Jerry Lawler vs. Ben Jordan (USWA 2/24/90)/Jerry Lawler vs. The Destroyer (USWA 2/24/90)…I could go w/ the Fuller/Lee breakup, or the finish to Luger/Flair…but I have to go with the chaos that Lawler brings to the Memphis studio on 2/24 as he destroys the studio as well as several wrestlers. Some of the best stuff ever and a real find. MVP: Jerry Lawler Sarp’s Pix: Disc #6: Best Match: Atlantis, Villano III & El Satanico vs. Pirata Morgan, Jerry Estrada & Emilio Charles Jr (EMLL 3/16/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler + Chris Champion (USWA 3/3/90) Best Angle: Midnight Express vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (WCWSN 3/10/90) MVP: Tony Atlas? Really?? P.S. Quite the toll of dead guys on this disc. Misawa, Jumbo, Doc, Gordy, Chris Adams, Bravo, John Tenta, Pillman, Kerry Von Erich, Savage, Sherri, Henning. Sarp’s Pix: Disc #7: Best Match: Jerry Estrada vs. El Satanico (Hair Match) (EMLL 3/23/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Promo (USWA TX 3/31/90) Best Angle: Eric Embry + Devastation Inc (USWA TX 3/24/90) MVP: Jerry Estrada Sarp’s Pix: Disc #8: Best Match: Ryuma Go vs. Masaji Aoyagi (Pioneer 4/5/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler + Studio Fans (USWA 4/7/90) Best Angle: Billy Jack Haynes/, Rip Oliver & Larry Oliver vs. The Grappler, Brian Adams & Equalizer (Finish Only) (Portland 4/14/90)…Billy Jack Haynes heel turn. MVP: Stan Hansen Sarp’s Pix: Disc #9: Best Match: Jerry Lawler vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA TX 4/20/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler Music Video (USWA TX 4/21/90) Best Angle: Jerry Lawler vs. Jeff Jarrett (USWA TX 4/20/90)….the surprise return of Valiant on the 28th is fantastic as well, but this is a clear winner. The finish, the post match stuff with the beat down and Billy Joe Travis save is all just great stuff. MVP: Jerry Lawler/Bobby Eaton….I can’t in good conscious not give it to Lawler. However, something has to be said for Eaton’s two performances here and making his case for the best in-ring competitor in 1990. I’ve always been an Eaton fan and would have him in my Top 20 of all-time, but I just didn’t know that he was delivering this many standout performances in 1990. Without question, Lawler and the Midnight Express are stealing this set. Sarp’s Pix: Disc #10: Best Match: Lightning Kid vs. Jerry Lynn (PWA April 1990) Best Promo/Interview: Jimmy Valiant + Jerry Lawler + Ben Jordan/Jerry Lawler vs. Ben Jordan (USWA 4/28/90) Best Angle: Ric Flair vs. Lex Luger (WWW 5/5/90)…The Horsemen wreak havoc as Barry Windham returns MVP: El Satanico Sarp’s Pix: Disc #11: Best Match: Tie: Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami vs. Yumiko Hotta & Mitsuko Nishiwaki (2/3 Falls) (AJW 5/13/90) and Midnight Express vs. Brian Pillman & Tom Zenk (Capital Combat 5/19/90) Best Promo/Interview: Jerry Lawler + The Snowman (USWA 5/19/90) Best Angle: Jerry Lawler + The Snowman (USWA 5/19/90) MVP: Tie: Jerry Lawler, Snowman, Eddie Marlin Sarp’s Pix: Disc #12: Best Match: El Dandy vs. Angel Azteca (EMLL 6/1/90)….This may be the best disk on the set so far. If someone would have told me that the Luger-Flair Cage Match from Capital Combat (which I’m a huge fan of) would be (at best) my 3rd favorite match on the disk then I’d be surprised. Best Promo/Interview: Eddie Marlin + The Snowman + King Cobra + Jerry Lawler (USWA 5/26/90) Best Angle: Kerry Von Erich vs. Matt Borne (Cage Match) (USWA TX 6/1/90)…The aftermath. MVP: Riki Choshu…It could easily be Lawler again as he again dominated the disk, but I’m almost looking for an excuse to give it to anyone else at this point and Riki produced two quality matches. ...more to come.

Great show guys. It's good to hear Phil back on podcasts. Here's how I ranked 'em: 1. Stan Hansen vs. Nick Bockwinkel (4/20/86)...clearly the best match of this batch and I think it's the only one of these that's knocking on the door of my top tier. 2. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Midnight Rockers (4/20/86)...a damn fine early chapter in this historic feud. 3. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Jesse Hernandez & Leon White (5/1/86)...call me crazy, but just as I had last night's 6 man a little higher than most, so to is the case with this one. I guess I'm really enjoying the TV studio matches that are structured more around Rose & Somers. Here, we get a ton of Rose/Somers antics whether on top or underneath. It being shorter plays to it's strengths for me over the Hall/Henning match. Plus, I enjoyed green as goose shit Vader more than Henning/Hall. 4. Rick Martel vs. Harley Race (4/20/86) 5. Mike Rotundo vs. Doug Somers (5/1/86) 6. Buddy Rose & Doug Somers vs. Scott Hall & Curt Hennig (5/17/86) 7. Mike Rotundo & Curt Hennig vs. Mr. Go & Larry Zbyszko (5/1/86)

Graham is usually really good, but I would worry about that page. 1986 is quite messed up. It was a much more limited series, rather than every card in July. This is probably quite a bit closer for 1986: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_American_Bash#1986 Those would be the correct 13 cards. 1987 was expanded, and 1988 dragged all the way to the August show in Los Angeles. It's a hard thing to nail down. The WCW TV items promoting events that you mentioned are probably the best things to look at for 1987-88. After that... who knows. :/ John Thanks John. I appreciate that. Yeah, those 1992 dates have been driving me nuts. Making my way through the various TV shows of the time (Saturday Night, Main Event, Worldwide) and trying to determine if some of the matches shown on TV are from Bash promoted events, or if they're all just from TV tapings that were not promoted as Bash events.

In a completely unrelated, and all together new 'little question'..... I'm trying to isolate exactly which dates/shows during the Great American Bash tours were indeed 'Bash' shows as opposed to just TV tapings that were not considered 'Bash' tour events. Cornette's scrapbook is a great resource for most years, but not in '91 and '92. Also, this page has been a great resource: http://www.thehistoryofwwe.com/bashtours.htm But it still doesn't make a clear distinction between which shows were and were not 'Bash' events. I've taken the list of dates from that page and cross referenced them with the segments on WCW TV shows at the time when they take a break to promote upcoming shows and isolated what were being promoted as part of the 'Great American Bash On Tour', but there are still some dates that I can't determine if they were or were not part of the tour. For example, for 1992, I've confirmed that these dates were promoted as Bash tour stops: 7/1, 7/4, 7/5, 7/9, 7/10, 7/11, 7/12, 7/16, 7/18, 7/19, 7/20, 7/23, 7/24, 7/25, 7/26, 7/30, 8/6, 8/8, 8/9, 8/11, 8/13, 8/14, 8/15, 8/16 I'm guessing that anything at 'Center Stage' was probably not considered part of the Bash, but there are still some dates that I'm not sure of. Most notably, 8/2/92 at the Arena in Baltimore. I'm most curious about this show because it was a TV taping. I'm trying to isolate and locate all of the Bash stuff that made tape.

I'm looking forward to this show and hearing how much you enjoyed this Clash. Knowing it was the next show I went ahead and watched it the other day as I don't think I had every seen anything outside of the main event and maybe Luger-Rich once prior. I was blown away and it's easily one of the 3 best Clash of the Champs I've ever seen. An immediate all-time favorite show for me.

Thanks Bix. I was hoping that there was some lost mini run of Lawler in a mask that would soon be unearthed and be the greatest thing ever.

Wow this is difficult to rate. I agree with everyone that the overall presentation with Pringle and the post-match taken into account is just fantastic. However, i also enjoyed the match considerably more than everyone else seemed to. Yeah, Kerry is limited and they actually don't do a whole lot, but you're talking about a match that is two guys, locked in a heated rivalry, inside a Cell, bleeding like crazy and punching each other. This is so what I loved about pro wrestling. As an overall segment this is probably Top 10 on the year so far. I've been raking every match on the set and assembling a 'Best Match', 'Best Angle', 'Best Promo/Interview', and 'MVP' for each disk. If there's a section to conveniently post these I'd be more than happy to. I mention it now, because I think I'll have this match considerably higher than most.

Ok, seriously, does anyone have any intel on Lawler in the mask? Was this just done for this piece for some reason? Or is a clip from an actual promo from some point?

I enjoyed the podcast and am elated that the show stood up for you guys. I won't defend the Battle Royal as it isn't a good match, but I will defend the finish. As a kid I thought the image of the two Skyscrapers standing triumphant and their showing of unity under their manager was a great presentation of a new dominant heel tag team. Sure, hindsight is 20/20 and the Skyscrapers ended up not amounting to much. However, before the injuries derailed the team, they were super over and the fans were very excited about a hot new heel team that could likely go toe-to-toe with the Road Warriors. I too actually prefer this Funk-Flair match to the 'I Quit' Match. Nothing against the 'I Quit' match as it's absolutely fantastic and a perfect blow off to a feud. This match however, with that aftermath, is just incredible. If anyone ever bothers to spend their time making a 'Top 5 Post Matches' this would rank well for sure. If there's one note I'd add to the match it's that Funk's ring entrance is among my favorite ever.