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Your number one there is a hell of a brutal match. You know how usually when there are strikes in a match, they will either cut to a different angle or kinda stay a little loose on the shot? Yeah, they don't do that here. No need to. They just beat the snot outta each other. Which match is the one Hansen legit gets knocked out and goes nuts? Maybe not my favorite Hansen match, but my favorite moment from him.

What's a "Haka"?

I think one thing that gets messed-up too, is that the people that post here, dvdvr, wrestling ko, etc are the norm for "internet" fans. I have a few buddies at work who follow stuff religiously online. They go to like prowrestling.com or something. The sites that basically reprint Meltzer stuff, that kind of thing. They have opinions of wrestling that are nowhere near anyone on here. You know, Kofi Kingston is awesome, TNA is pretty good and doing all these awesome matches. They have no idea who Kawada or Misawa are. To me, they are more the "typical" internet fan that you'd see at a WWE show or something.

Oh, I'd say it's definitely less now. I've been watching the Nitro dvd the last few days. It's funny how, as it progresses, you can see a huge boom in the number of signs in the audience. I mean, in 95 there's a small handful. By '98, everyone has one. Anyway, my point is that most of those signs have some kind of "smarky", insider comment on them. It did (at least) seem like more people were following the backstage stuff online then more than any other time.

Definitely...and I quite like the Lane/Eaton version. I think Bobby Eaton is the end-all, be-all for me on this. From what little I've seen of his team with Koko, to the more available stuff with both MX's, to his Dangerous Alliance stuff, he's just so solid. I think he defines tag wrestling for me because he's a guy that's never really stood out in singles. Stick him in a tag situation, and he's gold. I feel like there are a whole bunch of guys that we'd think more highly of now if tag teams were more prominent.

The selling of an atomic drop is really a lost art. Rick Rude was one of the best at it.

I think recent Rey is a great example of a guy who realized that he couldn't work as spectacular as he had in the past, so he adapted and started working smarter. He still does some impressive spots, but not nearly as quick and high as they were in his younger days. He's like Jordan after his first retirement. He couldn't dunk from the free-throw line anymore, but he developed a hell of a jumper.

Yeah, that whole Japan thing was kinda a big deal, but I gotta say that Superstars getting cancelled was probably a lot harder on a lot of people.

Holy shit! That cracked me up. Some indy needs to have a guy who's gimmick is that he's like five different masked guys on the card. Make it some super-fat or super-skinny guy that makes it painfully obvious.

I always thought it was funny that they picked the dude with one of the most recognizable bodies in wrestling to do multiple masked gimmicks.

I was thinking on this topic for a while before I replied, but Graham pretty much nailed what I like, then Loss wrapped it up for me. I also kinda have a weird thing where I'd like to be able to believe that whoever I'm watching could, at least, kick my ass. It could be because they're a big, strong dude who'd knock the shit outta me like a Hansen or Vader or something. It could be because they're a wily, quick little guy that'd knock me on my ass before I knew what hit me like Rey. Or maybe they're a technical dude like Danielson or Fujiwara that could have me tied in a pretzel in no time. Also, there's guys that aren't particularly big or strong, but come off as crazy like Terry Funk or Buzz Sawyer. If they couldn't kick your ass, at least they'd take your eye out trying. That's what takes me out of so much Indy wrestling these days. I'm not a tough guy, and I'm not that big. When I see someone like Player Uno or some of these new kick-pad ROH guys, I don't feel the least bit threatened. Someone brought it up already, but they feel like guys playing wrestling. It takes me out of the match. Now, this leaves a hole for guys like Davey Richards. I hate him as a wrestler. He's awful. I do think he'd totally kick my ass, though.

Neidhart was putting in just as much work as Bret. Maybe more because I've seen matches at smaller shows where Bret decided not to bother but Anvil went all out. I can tell you that, as a kid, my friends and I thought Anvil was the better of that team. He was just a more entertaining character than Bret was then. I was a huge fan of the WWF tag scene. Those survivor matches with all the teams were like my dream matches. While the tag scene for Vince back then wasn't the main event, it was pretty heavily featured. I think some people are so used to seeing tag wrestling crapped on nowadays, that people forget that. Also, I really think we're selling the Fabs short here. Along with the PYTs, they were one of the real revelations of the Memphis set for me.

From Iraq to the Ring This is a story I shot and edited on OVW wrestler Michael Hayes. The guy is pretty inspiring. I hope you guys like this. I consider it to probably be the best thing I've ever done.

I'm more depressed by the fact that David Otunga is a two-time tag champ.

Wait. So Karma's preggers?

I had that Mad. I remember the article being a thing where they put wrestlers in famous movies. Bruno Sammartino as The Godfather. Mr. Fuji, Hogan, and Miss Elizabeth in Casablanca. I don't remember the Jesse/Vince part that Dave mentions.

From Iraq to the Ring Preview This is a quick tease for a story I'm working on for Tuesday. If you're in the Louisville viewing area check it out on WDRB Tuesday night at 10. If not, I'll be posting a link for the finished product on Tuesday or so.

There are other factors with Hogan/Andre that need to be taken into account. Andre was up to nearly 800 pounds at this point. Hogan wasn't sure if Andre was going to shoot on him and take the belt, so he was on the defensive the whole match. Then, when Hogan finally pulled off the body slam, he tore every muscle in his back. He was able to suck it up and continue, though, and finish the match with the big leg drop. The match also has a mystique about it because Andre died a week later due to complications from the slam. I think when you take all that into account, it makes for a more compelling watch.

I loved Heroes of World Class, but I watched the whole thing wishing I could re-shoot and edit it. Great storytelling, though.

Wasn't Scorpio kinda technically a WCW guy? That's the first place he really got highlighted. He was pushed pretty decently in the early 90's.

I got to sit and talk wrestling with Rip Rogers yesterday. Really interesting Guy with a near-photographic memory of the places he's worked. I come from a tiny town in Southern Illinois and he told me the date and main event for a card he worked at my high school in 1983 for Poffo's promotion. I was shooting a news storybook at OVW's training school. Everyone in that promotion was great to work with, and they've been putting on some really fun shows lately. I'll post the story here when I'm done with it. Oh, and he was talking about his time in Portland and mentioned how Rose had all the tapes but he sold them to some guy on the Internet. Wasn't that Bix or Goodhelmet?

So, anarchistxx, would Hogan/Andre maybe be more like some big Bruckheimer or Bay movie that does very well at the box office, but is really quite bad?

I think it was kind of a Darth Vader thing. People always get into bad guys that are cool-looking and bad-ass. No one talks about how awesome Luke Skywalker was. It's Vader all the way with people.