rzombie1988

What's strange is that I didn't feel they were all that tall back in 1995 & 1996 when I was backstage. I'm 5-3. Perhaps some of it was that I didn't feel they were very "large" relative to all the other wrestlers I'd been around through the years, and with wrestlers a big chunk of that is more weight and size rather than just height. John Remember now that I met them in 2011. Not being rude here, but unless we are talking Takako(who may be thinner), almost all of the girls are heavier than they used to be. Most of the girls are around the 5'8-5'9 mark. AJW did have a size fetish, but all promotions do. It's part of the "a tall person is stronger than a small person" thing. You can tell the difference in my pics as to when there were less tall people around as I dwarf almost everyone post 1990.

Remember, I'm comparing these girls with Kudo from that time period. I think Yamada is often overlooked but I'll definitely admit that she never acheived her full potential.

I'm not judging her career on that but my point stands that she really wasn't anything special until her last 2-3 years. When you compare her with the other AJW girls at the time, it's not happening. I would not have Kudo above most of those girls.

I want to say that alot of the AJW girls during the peak recruiting years could probably compete with average height men. Girls like Toyota, Mita and Shimoda are quite tall. Mita appears to be almost 6 feet and she really dwarfed me in person. Say what you will, but I'd take my chances elsewhere. And let me tell you, after meeting Chigusa in person, she would be one of the last people I would ever test. I think women are equal with men when it comes overall wrestling characteristics and maybe even a bit above. Women have a wider range of looks, charisma, emotions and color that men don't have. They are also a little more flexible and due to most of them being smaller, they can do more athletic stuff. My top matches of all time also have women in them and those matches are above men's.

Let's put it this way. Compare her with her 1986 Zenjo classmates - Aja, KAORU, Bison, Combat, Mika Takahashi and Cooga. I'd put her above Cooga but thats not saying much. Compare her with the 1987 class - Toyota, Yamada, Mita, Shimoda and Sachiko Nakamura. She would be 2nd from the bottom of that list as well. Watch the DS 1 match with Kudo/Toyoda vs Toyota/Yamada and you can see how vastly inferior she was to Toyota and Yamada. Compare her with the 1988 class - Kyoko, Takako, Yoshida. Takako would be the only one I'd go either way with at this stage of the game. I think that tells you about all you need to know of her development. Also, to make an obvious point clear, if you would switch her looks with Combat Toyoda or one of the other non-idol types, there's no way she ends up doing half the stuff she did.

Let's put it this way, at best Kudo vs Aja was the 4th best match on the show. Kudo looked bad in all of her AJW matches. She was obviously not on the same level and she looked minor league. When you are getting shown up by the midcard matches, its time to pack it up. She looked much better against AJW opponents on FMW shows since the match quality on FMW shows was lower and there weren't other women who were vastly superior. Combat Toyoda was better than her for most of her career and that's not saying much. Kudo got by on her looks and charisma until her last 2 years where she became a good worker. For most of her career, she was like a poor woman's Onita. As for recommendations: - Omukai vs Aja from the first ARSION show - This is a really quick high energy match and the crowd is pretty hot. I really enjoyed this one and would have liked it more if the right person went over. - LCO vs Ito/Watanabe cage match from 9/21/1997 - They took the cage match to a whole new level and did it a 2 weeks before Taker/HBK went into the cell. Tons of nasty bumps and highspots. - Kudo vs Toyoda deathmatch - Probably the best deathmatch ever. - Dump vs Chigusa hair matches - Both of these two are awesome. Off the charts heat. Dump is at her best here, especially in the first match. The first match is pro wrestling and watching the post match hair cut is brutal.

Bomb Angels vs The Glamour Girls from the Boston Garden Rockers vs Haku/Barbarian from WM 7 There were a couple of tags with the Smackdown six that were some of the best tags I've ever seen in WWE. I really loved the three way they had at one of the ppv's and I think there was an amazing Guerreros/Angle & Benoit tag. Also, Harts vs the Steiners.

I teach and I can tell you my students have no idea what wrestling even is minus maybe one of them.

Based on their USWA work, I like the Harris Brothers. They were that staple tough guy tag team that you need and they were good foes for the Moondogs.

I'm thinking a little higher than last year. HITC and Rock/Cena should do it.

No reason for Taker not to take a couple of matches or more a year if he can handle it. He doesn't have many big paydays left, so he might as well get some extra cash. Yeah he's rich and doesn't need it, but 100K in his pocket is better for him than someone else.

He was a great help at Survivor Series...... He was, but unfortunately, the booking wasn't. No one could tell me that what they booked was the best they could have come up with. Star ratings are for fans, not for wrestlers.

I don't want to do a big long post, but you need two things more than anything else: Reliable money and a reilable tv slot on a non-digital cable network. You can get everything else from those two things. However, wrestling right now is at the lowest it's ever been. I don't even think more people would watch it if it was the greatest period ever. If I were to try and convince someone to watch current wrestling right now, I don't know if I could even think of anything to say. Right now, the world does not need wrestling and there's a heck of alot of other things to watch in the even more limited free time that people have.

Gotch/Hack was filmed. There were ads for it in the 50's in a magazine I read, but it hasn't been found yet.

The Mayweather match is such a work of art, this amazing performance by Show where he did every tiny thing almost perfect. I'm way more interested in Shaq vs Show than any other potential Wight match, just to see how they'd put it together and if he could possibly match that. I had it as my match of the year that year. I loved that match.

I really liked the WWECW Kurt and Kurt during the Smackdown Six Era.

I think one should take into account the usual Undertaker match at WM when ranking matches. Taker's match is always a main event these days and will only get stronger. No matter who else is on the card, no one will be bigger than Rock in the main event though. SD has been raped since the beginning in importance and being on SciFi and on Fridays only hurts it more, not to mention most of the talent on that show not being "A" level. As for the devaluing of the Royal Rumble, the booking of it has really hurt it. I didn't even download it this year, which is the first time I have not seen the Rumble. Elimination Chamber hurt it as well. However, the last few years EC has been very good. If they only have it decide one of the WM main events, I think that would be better. The ppv before WM has always been doomed anyway. It's always kind of filler as RR and WM are the two most important events of the year. EC might be better fit before Summerslam(unless they bring back King of the Ring). I did like it when Brock got a Summerslam title shot for winning King of the Ring. It made it seem more valueable. In my fantasy booking, I always changed the schedule with RR taking place the event before WM and the KOTR winner getting the title shot at Summerslam. As for the 30 vs 40 debate, it depends on who is in it and how it is booked like anything else. I thought the 40 man Rumble sucked, but I enjoyed some of WCW's World War 3's.

I don't think it's as impressive when alot of his peers have had similar tenures, especially with the lucha guys.

I don't see it happening, since Dick was not really the giving type and they were really closely intertwined with sharing talent for a while. I'm sure Verne made some money out of the deal, but it was going to be a WWA card. WWA was still passable as of 1982, but just from looking at results, things were getting ready to go downhill. Things started to get really ugly in 1984 with Gerry Lawler.

But he wasn't when it was important. It's equivalent to the new AWA recognizing Hogan as a former champion. Yes, that happened.

Verne wouldn't have ran Detroit as he would have been stepping on Dick the Bruiser and considering he was a big talent for AWA, it wasn't going to happen. Bruiser was running Detroit at the Civic Center past 1987.

They were still around during that time period, but yeah, the glory days were far gone. They did give us Dr. Jerry Graham Jr though.

I enjoyed Ox Baker in the TCS era. He was great on the mic and totally believeable. I also enjoyed the stupidity of Flapjack "298 Pancakes" Norton. I think the WWA laid claims to the Sheik's old territory in the early 80's.

The AWA was doomed and they were lucky to last as long as they did. Vince didn't just have it out for Verne, he was the equivalent of Genghis Khan with Verne. He slashed and burned, and then burned some more. Even Eric Bischoff in WCW would have said, "Oh Vince, lighten up". I'm surprised Vince didn't try to steal Greg Gagne. I didn't mind the Team Challenge Series. It's a little hard to piece together just by watching ESPN replays of AWA, but had it only gone on for maybe 1 month total, it might have been okay. I enjoyed the AWA. I'd put it below Memphis/WWF/WCCW, but I still think the tv shows were better than the NWA tv shows at the time. Atleast AWA had alot of different hungry guys getting experience. The booking really sucked though. The right guys never won at the right time and Verne blew chances to make a move with Slaughter, Snuka, Hansen, Hogan, The Rockers and a host of others. I liked Lord James Blears as announcer. He had a great retro voice for it and probably would have fit better doing WWF commentary. Keep Ray Stevens far away from any mic though. He sounded like a drunk.

Inoki's wasn't recognized, so he doesn't count. Jumbo and Saito are good though.