Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Vince Morales

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Today's entry comes to us from Vince Morales, writer of the Milwaukee Brewers' blog Miller Park Drunk. You may remember Vince on here from an excellent guest blog he submitted after the Money in the Bank PPV, one he was in attendance for. It's funny, aside from the Phillies, the most followers on Twitter/TWB superfans I have from a single fanbase belong to the Brewers. I must be in a weird pocket on the Internet, or maybe I'm just huge in Wisconsin. Anyway, here's his list:

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Two best friends, two top spots on Vince's list
Photo Credit: Pro Rasslin.com

When people say that wrestling is cyclical they usually mean that it goes in cycles of “good” and “bad”, but what they actually mean to say is that it goes in cycles of “popular” and “unpopular”. Wrestling is always good and it is always bad. It always has been and it always will be. To me wrestling is very cyclical in that my favorite wrestlers, the people that keep me tuned in, always change.

When I first discovered wrestling my favorite wrestler was Razor Ramon. He had the best finisher and he exuded coolness. As I grew older his ring work would decline and as I would learn from the internet he was a drug person. As my favorite wrestler he failed me, both in and out of character, and I soon began to wonder why I ever thought he was the best. The same thing happened with the 1-2-3 Kid.

Another early favorite of mine was Hunter Hearst Helmsley. (Seriously.) When he was the Connecticut Blue Blood you could definitely tell that he had “it” and it was fun to watch him grow. When he joined D-X I loved every minute of it. People forget now that it’s been done to death, but when he first came out with HBK because they were “really” friends it meant something. When he ascended to leader and brought in another one of his “real” friends, my old favorite X-Pac, it was great. Now? I cringe when I see him. The young guy trying to get over turned into a legend with extremely low self esteem and I wanted nothing to do with him. Again, a favorite of mine failed me in and out of the ring.

(Quick Triple H tangent: How does he not have more moves? The Undertaker can finish you with a chokeslam, Hells Gate, Last Ride or Tombstone. John Cena has the Attitude Adjustment and the STFU. CM Punk has the Anaconda Vise and the GTS. Even Randy “chinlock” Orton has the punt, RKO and second rope DDT. Triple H has the Pedigree. That’s it. With his ego how did he never say “You know what? I’m going to get the claw over as my new finisher” and just roll with it. I’m convinced this is why his match with Undertaker sucked.)

It never fails me that I find a wrestler to call my favorite and he fails me. Scott Hall let drugs and alcohol run his life. Triple H became the coolest, toughest and smartest. Chris Benoit murdered his family. I realized Raven wasn’t that good. John Cena won too much. Kurt Angle took himself too seriously. Samoa Joe went to TNA. On and on it went and my favorites quickly became people I didn’t want to see. Wrestlers are cyclical.

So when TH asked me who my favorite wrestlers are I didn’t know how to answer it because my favorite wrestlers today probably won’t be my favorite wrestlers tomorrow and one day I’ll probably regret ever calling these guys my favorite. With that being said, here’s my list.

5b. Stone Cold Steve Austin - Steve Austin is the greatest example of the cyclical nature of this list. In his heyday there is no way he’d be left off this list. He was the best wrestler, the best character and the best promo. I loved his heel turn and I loved it even more when the Invasion was over and he just came out as a babyface like nothing ever happened. Then he seemed to stop caring. There was that thing where he hit his wife. I don’t like to comment on things like that so I won’t, but it does make a person seem a lot less heroic. There was also that thing when he refused to job to Brock Lesnar and just went home. He eventually came back, but he was just stale. Drink beer, stun someone, rinse and repeat. Maybe it was the writing, maybe it was a lack of motivation, but Stone Cold just wasn’t Stone Cold anymore and I could live without him. Then Tough Enough happened. During that show I remembered the Stone Cold I loved and why he was one of the best talents I’d ever seen. Stone Cold ripping on reality show punks should win awards. The show seemed to give him his mojo back and made a potential program CM Punk sound like the greatest thing ever.

5a. Randy Savage - I never, ever got sick of the Macho Man and I never will.

4. Bret Hart - In 1997, I had an email newsletter called The Pedigree. It was the dumbest thing ever. I was 15 and I didn’t even know who Dave Meltzer was, but somehow I sent out a twice weekly pro-wrestling “newsletter”. I also had a hotline. When the whole Montreal thing was going down I refused to believe it. I left an angry message on my hotline how there was “no way” Bret Hart would ever leave the WWF and Dave Meltzer doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. (Which, in retrospect, is true most of the time.) I loved Bret Hart and I couldn’t imagine a WWF without him. When it all went down and what happened ended up happening it was the end of my innocence as a fan and the end of my newsletter. I knew that things were pre-determined before, but Montreal showed me just how real and fake the whole thing is.

My feelings on the situation always change (From How could Vince do that? to How could Bret be such a mark for himself? and back), but I always loved Bret Hart. He’s apart of a ton of my favorite matches and he’s the one guy I’ve ever really wanted one more match from.

Montreal question that’s always bothered me: If Bret refused to lose in Montreal because of his legacy (or whatever) then why did he allow them to turn him 200 times in WCW? He said in Wrestling With Shadows that he couldn’t be a heel in Canada, but then he was never that character again. Had he given up? Was WCW only about the money for him? Never made sense to me how he was so worried about his portrayal towards the end of his WWF run and then completely stopped caring about it in WCW.

3. Chris Jericho - I loved Chris Jericho from the moment I saw him as a crappy babyface that turned his back to the crowd in WCW. He was a nerd, but he was one of my favorites based strictly on his ring work. He was also one of the first guys I traded tapes for. As the mic skills came my fandom grew and grew. He was a channel changer in WCW and when he went to WWF that was game over for the Nitro set for me. His handling in WWE dropped him off my radar for awhile like so many wrestlers before him, but he came back strong and his second run in WWE solidified his spot as one of the all-time greats.

He also wrote two excellent books that solidified Chris Jericho as both a guy who gets it and a guy who I would love to hang out with.

2. CM Punk - I don’t know how he ended up here. I was never a CM Punk guy. I liked Samoa Joe. He was the bad ass. He was the one with the Kobashi match. He was the one the people warned in chant about their imminent death. CM Punk was good, but he was never my guy. When he went to WWE I was like “Yeah, cool,” but he was never a guy that I used as a reason the WWE was messed up. He got a good push and he was on TV enough that I appreciated him, but that was it.

Then Straight Edge Society happened and he said “Bring me Jared from Subway.” Then the feud with Randy Orton (the best built match at Wrestlemania imo) happened where he actually made Randy Orton seem somewhat interesting. Then Money in the Bank happened and I don’t know how he could be anywhere else. Money in the Bank was the first PPV I attended live since Over the Edge in 1998, it was my first live WWE show in five years and it was the greatest show I’ve ever been to. Since that show my interest in wrestling has waned quite a bit. Not because I don’t like it anymore, but because in some strange way I feel like I’ve reached the apex of my enjoyment of wrestling at that event and I’m not sure I can ever get that back.

1. Colt Cabana - I just started actively following Colt Cabana about four months ago so his placing on this list might seem a bit suspect to you, but Colt Cabana absolutely belongs here. Colt Cabana is professional wrestling. I’ve watched wrestling for a very long time and I can’t remember a single wrestler who put a smile on my face every single time he stepped into the ring. Jericho and others can make you laugh with their promos, but nobody’s in-ring work is responsible for more smiles and laughs than Colt Cabana.

Cabana’s outside projects help too. The Art of Wrestling is pretty much the greatest thing ever, Wrestling Road Diaries is a great documentary and Creative Has Nothing For You is always good for a laugh. If the Colt Cabana stamp of approval is on something than you can pretty much guarantee quality.

None of this is why he’s here though. Colt Cabana is here because he’s an inspiration. Not to get too inside baseball, but I’ve had a pretty crappy year. Like real crappy. Fired from my job, breaking up with my girlfriend, moving back home for a couple months, it’s been the year of not-Vince. I got depressed and dwelled on that for awhile, but Colt Cabana was always positive and on the Art of Wrestling he talked about that positivity and it really spoke to me. On one episode he spoke about an old story that inspired him about Lanny Poffo where Lanny said there were two buses, the happy bus and the sad bus, and that he was on the happy bus. That story spoke to Colt and Colt telling that story spoke to me. Life is too short. Get off the sad bus and get on the happy bus. It’s much more fun over here.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Bill Dempsey

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Yes, I'm still taking submissions. So yeah, if you want to send in a list, feel free. If you don't have my e-mail, well, now you do. tom DOT holzerman AT gmail DOT com. Just sub the DOTs out for .s and the AT out for a @ and you'll be fine. Anyway, this unordered list comes to us from one Bill Dempsey, one of my oldest running buddies on the 'Net. We started out together in e-feds, and when I tell you he was one of the two best handlers I've ever come across, he's one of the two best handlers I've ever come across. Bill now works for HBO, and he's met some pretty cool celebs, but he still gives lil' ol' me and TWB the time of day. Here are his five favorite wrestlers ever. Enjoy!

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Two of the best, two of Bill's faves
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Steve Austin - When thinking about the Austin era I got a little hung up on who my favorite guy was from those years. Strong cases can be made for The Rock, Angle, Jericho, Benoit (I know) and several others. But the fact is that when I consider it I still think of it as “The Austin Era” and that says it all. Not that it’s easy to leave Rocky off the list, as I look back on his contributions with a lot of joy, but Austin was always more fun for me, because he was an ass kicker who could force some comedy from time to time whereas Rock excelled with humor, but I didn’t always buy his ass kicking. Chalk it up to personal preference. Then there is the physical aspect of Austin, where, beyond his frankly limited moveset (post knee surgeries) he was one of the best bumpers I have ever seen. The guy bounced around like a rubber ball and always made things look like they hurt, which is a really under-rated skill, I think. The great thing about anyone on this list is that by the time they are in the discussion you can look back at the early parts of their career and appreciate them more than you did at the time. Not that Stunning Steve was ever not fun to watch but knowing what he would become, I find it really cool to go back to the Dangerous Alliance Era and watch him knowing what he was growing into. He was a guy that excelled at two vastly different characters and also bridged the gap between those two characters with a masterful run as half of one of the greatest tag teams in history. Once he got to WWE the record speaks for itself. Yes, in the later years he became sort of a caricature and things got repetitive, but I appreciated that he tried to go heel and wish we had seen where that was going minus the Trips injury and the Invasion angle. And the fact remains that starting with the Bret Hart feud right up through WrestleMania 17 I don’t know that I’ve ever had more fun watching a single guy, and that is despite Russo booking a ton of that stretch.

Bret Hart - If I were putting these in order I might have Bret Hart listed as my favorite wrestler of all time. He’s just so good at everything. He certainly doesn’t have the promo skill of Flair, but minus that, I think he is everything we all think of when we talk about Flair, just better at most of it. Like Flair, his matches definitely have a similar feel and flow about them, but I find them much easier to go back and watch again, despite the fact that Flair’s super high end stuff is probably better than Bret’s if I’m being honest. But seriously, name a bad Bret Hart match. Even if you can come up with one or two (and the McMahon thing from a couple years back doesn’t count) you’ve gotta admit it’s not easy to do and the fact that he was such a consistent guy with so many different opponents is unreal. He bumped great, his offense was always crisp and tight, and his psych almost always made sense – the perfect triple threat. Again I find myself heaping a lot of the same praise on Bret that is usually reserved for Flair, but where Bret gets the edge in my eye is that he stopped before becoming a total joke (notwithstanding that it wasn’t really his choice). We have the benefit of not having to have had to watch Bret decline the way we did with Flair. In fact, if not for the move to WCW, who horribly mismanaged his career (he’s still got good matches there, but the whole period feels like a bore, minus that one match with Benoit and maybe some Goldberg stuff), I think Bret might be in the discussion as a unanimous Best Ever guy.

Vader - I’m very comfortable listing Vader as the best big man I have ever seen if we’re talking straight peak. Other guys have lasted longer (Taker comes to mind & we can argue other names depending on how we want to define the term “big man”) and it’s impossible to ignore Vader’s almost immediate fall from grace when he showed up in WWE, but at his best, he was clearly in the conversation for best in the world, big man or not. Obviously the matches with Sting are legendary, the Starrcade match with Flair is nearly perfect and the Cactus Jack stuff was way ahead of its time. Beyond that he was able to pull off remaining a scary no nonsense badass in a particularly goofy time in WCW in the days before and just after Hogan’s arrival and right up until Hogan killed him dead. Even after his WWF debut he had a few standout matches (vs. Bradshaw at Breakdown, Michaels at SummerSlam, & the Fatal Four Way come to mind) but he was clearly done by then and just got fatter and less motivated. But for 5 or 6 years before then he was absolutely must-watch and his matches tended to make everyone else’s look that much worse in comparison, which is a pretty good gauge of talent in my book.

Brock Lesnar - I went back and watched the Iron Man match with Angle last night, which is my first exposure to Lesnar in years. He totally holds up. Definitely the most natural and gifted wrestler I can think of. Just completely fluid and instinctual and a guy that just looked like he knew what he was doing at all times, not only throwing guys around like a gorilla, but actually wresting smart matches. Even the infamous botch at WrestleMania was something he went for 100%, just believing he would nail it. I can’t imagine how good he would have been if he actually liked wrestling and stuck to it. He couldn’t really talk, but he didn’t need to, and who knows if he would have developed that skill or not. Either way, I think we’d be talking about him as a GOAT as far as in-ring is concerned, and as mentioned above, depending on your definition probably calling him the best big man ever. Sadly, his run was way too short, but even with just those few years we have incredible matches to look back on with Hardy, Undertaker, Rocky, Angle, Big Show, Benoit (yeah, I know) & Guerrero. Just thinking about this now as I write it a Lesnar/Vader match with both guys at their prime would have been fucking ridiculous (and arguably we never even saw Lesnar in his prime). Not to mention how incredible a Lesnar/Mike Knox match would have been (I think Knox may seriously be my favorite guy from the past 5 years, although there are clearly guys more talented).

Randy Savage - Like everyone else, I remembered how much I loved Randy Savage when he died. My only real beef with him is I don’t think he had a single match worth watching once he left the WWF (and didn’t have many after his “retirement” match with Warrior, although the Flair match at WM8 is the clear exception). That said, even as he got older and less mobile and his matches all started blending together, he remained an exciting guy to watch just because he was so insane. The intrigue surrounding whether he would join the NWO was incredible right up until they had him join and become totally irrelevant. Still, he’s clearly the best that the WWF had in the WrestleMania era leading up to his departure and his resume in those 10 years is incredible. If he only had the two years between WrestleManias 3 & 5 he would be in the discussion as the best guy in the 80’s (with the year long Hogan feud being possibly the most perfectly booked main event program ever), but there is so much more to it than that, and as I get older I really enjoy his shitty weasely scumbag pre-WM3 heel act from a lot of the MSG and Boston Garden shows with him being the best wrestler on the card, moving at about 100 coke induced miles an hour at all times, blowing everyone’s minds collectively and cheating like hell without needing to. The guy was totally electric and it was so obvious that he had to be moved up the card. Just an all around great, with the only real complaint being a slightly repetitive offense, which he made worth watching by being completely crazy at all times.

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Jarret Aubry

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Next up is a guy that I've been acquainted with for the last 12 years. He's a good egg, which is Canadian for "a decent fellow". Jarret Aubry is his name, and he's the webmaster at A1-Wrestling, a fine message board, community and collection of Internet degenerates like myself. He also is one of the voices of the A1 Podcast, which is a great listen. Here are his favorite wrestlers.

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1a vs. 1b
Photo Credit: WWE.com

5. AJ Styles - What's not to like about AJ Styles? A staple and cornerstone of TNA (now Impact) Wrestling in its infancy, Styles helped put the X-Division on the map with his speed, agility, and high-flying ability. One might argue that he isn't great on the mic, but he's shown on several occasions that when he delivers an intense and focused promo, you want to listen, and has been constantly improving on the mic over the years. I still mark out every time I see a Pele kick, and some of the high flying and more acrobatic moves he pulls off are so fun to watch, yet the guy can absolutely go on the mat as well; his series of matches with Christopher Daniels are stuffed with magic. While he's on the small side, Styles is the complete package in the ring and a guy I'd have no problem putting in the upper tier of any fed I'd be running.

4. Bret Hart - The best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. A catch phrase that ended up not being too far from the truth. I always enjoyed watching Bret in the ring. His moniker of the "Excellence of Execution" was dead on; Hart moved around the ring and delivered his offense like a wrestling assassin. Measured, deliberate, and deadly, every move was calculated to deliver maximum impact and to set up, or get into position to set up the Sharpshooter. I really liked the way Hart sold as a face; he'd get beaten into within an inch of his life, and he'd really look like it. He really made you believe he was totally getting his ass kicked, and made you even feel for the guy. His ability in the ring is unquestioned, and has one of the best finishers of all time (even if he ripped it off of Sting).

3. "Macho Man" Randy Savage - Like I noted about Bret Hart above, I enjoyed Savage as a good guy. He was the best to me as the underdog fighting the greater odds or the bigger opponent, the guy that would do anything he had to in order to overcome those odds or get by the much bigger opponent. One of the first of his era to specialize coming off the top rope, Savage moved like a cat; the dude was just SO quick, so graceful in the ring. I always loved how he took a strike to the head (whether it was as simple as a punch to face, elbow to the head, or as nasty as a chair), he sold it like he'd been shot. Like Hart, he could make it look like he was getting beaten into within inches of a months-long hospital visit, and he really drew you into that and made you believe it. He brought us the awesome, graceful, yet devastating top rope elbow, and good guy or bad, his promos were *always* entertaining. One half of my favorite wrestling angle of all time, the Savage/Elizabeth/Hogan triangle. Definitely a one-of-a-kind.

1b. The Rock - Really, what has to be said about The Rock? The Rock has entertained and electrified like no other before him. His raw charisma, combined with that ability to draw in, use, and feed off the crowd is the stuff of legends. Rock has delivered more entertaining, hilarious, jaw-dropping, raucous, awesome promos than anyone else in the business, and as he would say, "without a shadow of a doubt", his in-ring work got better and better each and every time he stepped into the ring. His sharpshooter may have sucked, but near the end of his run, he was constantly adding more moves to his arsenal, constantly getting crisper, constantly improving, to the point that I believe if he'd hung around for another couple years in his prime, he would be one of the top candidates for greatest of all time. Yup, I said it.

1a. Hulk Hogan - Like The Rock, what do you say about Hulk Hogan that hasn't already been said? Put whatever backstage politics you believe aside, as a kid, Hogan was the first real star that I latched on to. To me as a kid, Hulk Hogan was a super hero come to life. He was this massive, muscular guy that wanted me to be the best I could be, that believed in me. He took on the biggest enemies, righted the biggest wrongs, and fought for the biggest causes. He was a super hero, but at the same time just a man, and that was endearing at that age. In-ring ability aside (as displayed in North America), Hogan is on a level with such a select few with the ability to work a crowd, and as such was always a great entertainer. Hogan was involved in most of the biggest moments in wrestling since his arrival; the first Wrestlemania, slamming Andre the Giant, really taking wrestling mainstream, the love triangle with Elizabeth and Randy Savage, which to me, was the greatest angle of all time. I really believed that stuff when I was kid. The training, the prayers, and the vitamins, and take 15 years of that and turn it all on its head when Hogan became Hollywood Hulk Hogan, turning heel and forming the nWo... it was shocking. So, for that era, those changing times, all those special moments, that nostalgia when it comes to pro wrestling, Hogan will always have a place in my wrestling heart.

Your Favorite Wrestlers: UConn Gary

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

Today's list comes from TWB superfan and Twitter user UConn Gary, a reader of the blog and also a fan of With Leather, as I've seen him comment there. It's a really good list too, in ascending order.

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The Great #1
Photo Credit: WWE.com

All these guys are on my list for the work they did in WWF/E. I was never into Indy wrestling, and I didn't really watch WCW during the Monday Night Wars. My top five wrestlers of all time will probably not be smark approved. I'm a child of the '80s and '90s, and the 1-2-3 Kid beating Razor Ramon had a bigger effect on me than most things. Then again so did Henry Rowengartner. 1-2-3 Kid gets an honorable mention on my list, as does Sunny, who helped me through puberty. To the top 5...

5. Randy “Macho Man” Savage – Since I was never really big into Hulk Hogan, I naturally gravitated towards the Macho Man. Maybe it was my love for Slim Jims, or because his voice was easy to ape, but Randy Savage was one of the most entertaining guys in the WWF pre-Attitude Era for my money. The moment that most sticks out in my mind with Savage was his feud with Jake Roberts when he was bitten by Damien. Scary stuff for an 8-year-old. His wrestling ability wasn't what attracted me to the Macho Man as a young child, but watching some of his matches again show how great a worker he truly was. I was only three for his nearly flawless Wrestlemania III match with Ricky Steamboat but any time I re-watch it, I'm amazed at how brilliantly it was worked.

4. Mr. Perfect – It was all about the entrance and the sport vignettes - both awesome and obviously perfect. He's probably the first heel that I started cheering for. His commentary was amazing, his management of Ric Flair was a fitting use of him while injured, and his in ring skills were second to none. He should have been WWF Champion, and if not for the Million Dollar Man, he'd be able to lay claim to best heel never to wear the gold. The match with Bret Hart for the Intercontinental Championship was my favorite Mr. Perfect moment.

3. Chris Jericho – We might be sensing a trend here. Cocky heels are my favorite. That's why I've been so enamored with C.M. Punk and The Miz lately. Jericho, for me, redefined the “cool heel”. I didn't really know him from WCW, but watching some of his work on YouTube after the fact (The Man of 1004 Holds, anything with Ralphus) impressed me even more. His WWF introduction countdown and first promo versus The Rock was great, but the recent feud with Shawn Michaels was my favorite Jericho work of all time.

2. Owen Hart – Owen was one of my favorites from the time I first saw him teaming with Koko B. Ware in High Energy. From there, Owen evolved into one of the best underdog heels ever feuding with his brother. His character resonated with me, probably because I never really liked Bret either! He could easily be the greatest tag-team wrestler of all time. His work with Koko, Yoko, the Anvil, British Bulldog and Double J were all outstanding. His tragic death really shook me. I was in my parents basement (har, har) listening to the Pay-Per-View on a scrambled channel. It felt like someone I knew had died that day, maybe hearing the events happen live, then seeing the tribute show the next day on Raw had something to do with it, but a celebrity's death hasn't touched me in that way before or since. RIP Owen.

1. The Rock – I was firmly in The Rocks camp in the late 90s and early 00s. I stopped watching WWF/E around 2001 and didn't get back into until 2006ish, so I missed the drama of The Rock leaving for Hollywood, so I don't have the bitter taste in my mouth that many other wrestling fans have with him. I never really liked Steve Austin (another trend, I always shied away from the WWF/E's top draw) and since he and The Rock feuded for quite a while, I was always pulling form the Brahma Bull. Some of my favorite Rock moments are his work with Mick Foley, as a foe and as teammate. I liked the Rock in the Nation of Domination and in the Corporation. I followed the Rock where ever he went, I had the t-shirt (only wrestling t-shirt I ever owned) read his biography in one night the day it came out, and spouted out his catchphrases at the TV with great vigor. I was upset (still am) that I can't raise an eyebrow, and would mark out anytime his music hit. My favorite moment of The Rock was his I Quit Match with Mankind at the 1999 Royal Rumble, poor Mick must still be feeling some of those chair shots.

Oooh Yeah, Use Me to Settle Debts, PRIVATE! ...or Public!

Photo Credit: Tarlin B. Wiggins
Via ChukD's Flickr

When I rule the world, this will be the exact format of the currency. OOH YEAH, AND YOU GET FIVE DOLLARS OFF AT STARBUCKS WHEN YOU USE BILL THIS TO PAY FOR YOUR ORDER!

Your Favorite Wrestlers Ever: Eric Gargiulo

Now that my own favorites list is out of the way, I posed the question to some of my colleagues in the fan/writer community. Who are your favorite five wrestlers?

The first list in this series of favorite wrestlers among the blogosphere, Twitterverse and fandom. Our first list comes from Eric Gargiulo of the Camel Clutch Blog. Here are his fave five:

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1. Ric Flair - Maybe it is my age but Flair was a legend to me before I ever saw him wrestle thanks to the Apter magazines. Seeing him live defending the NWA title was something else. His matches were always lengthy, exciting, and kept you on the edge of your seats. Compound that with the promos he cut in his prime and you got the best of all time in my opinion.

Two of E's favorite wrestlers in a classic WrestleMania moment
Photo Credit: WWE.com

2. Kurt Angle - I think Angle is arguably the most underrated wrestler of this generation. Whenever people talk about greatest of all time they always mention Flair and HBK but leave Angle out. Name me a bad Kurt Angle match and I'd call you a flat out hater. Just the fact that he continues to get excellent matches out of Jeff Jarrett makes him an all-time great and a miracle worker.

3. Randy Savage - Savage brought a new attitude to the WWF in the 1980s. His intensity was second to none and he was the first to incorporate a more athletic style to the main-events. I don't recall many boring Savage matches and he worked with everyone and anyone. Like Flair, his promos were innovative and brought a whole new dynamic to the WWF.

4. Shawn Michaels - Shawn is without question the greatest wrestler of the 21st century. This guy got great matches out of everyone, including Mark Henry. His matches always told a story and while they weren't always the most psychologically sound, you understood the emotion of the fight by the time the match was over.

5. Tiger Mask Sayama - If not for his short run I'd call him the greatest of all time. He pioneered a new style of pro wrestling that continues to bleed into the current era of the business. Thousands have tried to fly and move like him, but nobody was as fluid and precise as Sayama. If you have never seen an original Tiger Mask match you need to put an hour aside and sit in front of You Tube. The guy blows just about anyone and everyone out of the water and unfortunately came along about 20 years too soon.

The Wrestling Podcast, Episode 13: flubby of KSK

Jar of Superflies

The immortal Flubby of Kissing Suzy Kolber is my guest this week. We talk NFL football, fantasy football, bourbon, Randy Savage, old school Memphis wrestling and I insult his profession. Thankfully, he didn't hang up on me right there. Some good fantasy football advice and we talk some trash about Tennessee and their inferior whiskey. Give it a listen.

Note, the end got cut off, and before I could add it back in in post, my mic died. So just imagine me saying "Thank you for listening, and tune in next week when I'll have... another guest!" DO IT FOR YOUR OWN SANITY!

Direct link for download

My Favorite Wrestlers Ever: #10 through #6

Last multiple entry until we get into the top 5!

Photo Credit: WWE.com

10. Dusty Rhodes

My fandom for De Amewican Dweem has come later in life. When I watched as a child, during his heyday, he was at the height of his WWF run, wearing polka dots and being irrelevant. But his commentary in WCW was just sublime. Then as I'd go back and discover him, his warm, homespun promos about the working man and hard times, I grew to mark for him even more.

Plus, the guy is an icon for all us who are overweight. He was fat as hell, and yet he was still, arguably, the most popular wrestler in the world at one point. There was also the Bionic Elbow, which is one of the most iconic strikes ever.

Photo Credit: SI.com

9. "Macho Man" Randy Savage

Oooooh yeah, dig it, the Macho Man Randy Savage was an icon in my childhood. If Hogan was #1, Savage was #1a. I've said it several times, but while Hogan was the guy who got me into wrestling, Savage, with his tearful reunion with Miss Elizabeth, was the thing that kept me a wrestling fan for the rest of my life. Everything about him was just entrancing, mainly because he was so easy to imitate.

He also kept his legacy intact for the most part by staying away. When the sirens kept calling guys like Hogan, Flair, Funk and the rest back to the well, Savage kept quiet and kept at home. That's why his death resonated so much. There was so much of his mystique left around him. He never shed it in front of us like so many others are doing right now, and that's what made his passing extra sad.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

8. Eddie Guerrero

Eddie G was one of the most fun-loving and emotive wrestlers in history. Every time he came out, it just felt like a good time was on the horizon. Every smile on his face, every pop to his feet... it was great. He had a lot of demons, and they were all out in the open, which made it all the more powerful when he would overcome them and succeed. His title reign, beating Brock Lesnar and then holding the WWE Championship through WrestleMania that year, was probably one of the most special in my memory.

Well, we always thought his problems were behind him. Then, he died, so suddenly. It magnified all those good feelings, encasing them for eternity. That being said, I'm pretty sure Eddie would still be here even if he were alive. Such a special performer.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

7. Bryan Danielson/Daniel Bryan

Michael Cole called him a nerd when he first debuted on NXT. In his character's mind, Cole thought he was doing Daniel Bryan a disservice. But then, a funny thing happened. It got him over. Why? Because Bryan, like a lot of wrestling fans, was a big nerd. It resonated with us, with me especially. BECAUSE I'M A NERD GET IT? HYUCK HYUCK.

It doesn't hurt that he may be the most gifted pure wrestler in history. That comes as not so much a shock to you, given how much I enjoy the in-ring part of the equation. I've seen so many matches of his, and you know how many parts I was disappointed in? Zero. And the best part is that it's just getting started. He'll be in a title match at WrestleMania this year, and I don't even need to know his opponent to know it'll be a damn good match worthy of its billing on the card.

Photo Credit: WWE.com

6. Bret "The Hitman" Hart

When Hogan jumped to WCW, I stayed with the WWF. Why? Because of the Hitman. He just exuded cool. He was so workmanlike in the ring, a general, and outside, he seemed so slick, the greasy hair, the sunglasses... hell, he wore pink. The man wore pink at a time when only women wore the color. You had to be a real man to be able to wear that color, and he was a real man.

He had a lot shit heaped on him in the last fifteen years. Yet, even though he looks like hell on the exterior, he still exudes that cool. I think it's also in the way that the other wrestlers talk about him, how Colt Cabana and Evan Bourne just marked out when talking about him on the Art of Wrestling podcast. He is the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.

Some Real Fantasy Booking with CM Punk!

Punk, the conquering hero of SEVERAL realms!
Photo Credit: WWE.com

So, CM Punk may be unemployed right now, but he's still defending the WWE Championship. Monday, he announced an impromptu title defense against a very formidable Japanese challenger:

On my couch. About to put the title on the line against Piston Honda.

Okay, Hiroshi Tanahashi or any other New Japan star it wasn't but hey, that Honda Rush has taken out many an unwitting fighter. Just ask Little Mac. Anyway, we haven't gotten any spoilers on whether that match was a success for Punk or not (WHERE ARE THE DIRTSHEET REPORTERS WHEN YOU FUCKING NEED THEM), but I can only assume it was a success since he was seen with the title later that evening at Wrigley Field.

This begs the question, what other places will Punk show up to defend the title? We all thought that it would be ROH or NJPW or some other indie or foreign fed, but now, with this first title defense out of the way, it's time to start lining up some of his next defenses. Unless he shows up next week to interrupt the Miz/Rey match, then I'm guessing he's out for awhile, and while he deserves a vacation, I'm not so sure he can stay still for that long of a time. So, in the spirit of that first defense, here's some fantasy booking in the truest sense of the word fantasy...

- First defense, Punk vs. Mario in a Mushroom Kingdom Madness match, which is like a Falls Count Anywhere match using warp pipes to go to the different areas. It's set up in a tag match between Punk and Mario against Bowser and Jimmy Jacobs, when Punk turns on the Italian plumber, disagreeing with his use of performance enhancing fungi. The match of course ends with Punk winning, hitting a Go to Sleep on Mario after distracting him by laying down some warp pipe on Peach.

- CM Punk vs. Tyrion Lannister. Not in a wrestling match, but in a contest to see who can slap the shit out of Joffrey the most.



That will never, ever get old.

- Harry Potter vs. Lord Voldemort. What does this have to do with Punk? Well, Harry's Petronus is Punk. The most powerful one there is, I might add.

- Punk vs. Chuck Norris in a battle to claim the outlandish meme. Punk quits, because he doesn't want to be associated with the lameness.

- Punk travels to the void to do battle with Randy Savage in a match that would make the Internet explode. Savage would obviously have the match won with the flying elbow, but as a courtesy to Punk, he gets himself disqualified because he has no need for mortal Championship belts in the afterlife. Plus, he prevented the fucking Rapture. That's all the recognition the Macho Man needs.

- Punk joins the cast of Next Food Network Star midseason. He wins the whole competition with his GTS Pizza, then has a three way with Rachael Ray and Giada de Laurentiis, using EVOO as the lubricant. Highest ratings in network history. Guy Fieri's head explodes, causing @DangerGuerrero to celebrate like the Rebel Alliance just blew up the Death Star outside of Endor.

- Punk visits the LOST island and wrestles the Smoke Monster to a time limit draw. Even fantasy characters from totally fictional TV shows have their political chicanery.

Yeah, so that's a lot of fantasy booking for one night. The possibilities are endless, almost infinite. There's just so much Punk can do before ending his vacation and coming back to claim his rightful throne as King BAMF of WWE.

NOTE: I was not on drugs during this post. I SWEAR.

Your Midweek Links: The People's Republic of North Dakota?

A state, territory or THUNDERDOME?

It's hump day, so here are some links to help get you through the week:

Self-Shilling:

- Episode 10 of The Wrestling Podcast. Me and Justin Henry talk shop about Money in the Bank, Destination X and other things. [Tyler Black Sabbath]

Wrestling Links:

- Introducing Cameron Riley's new blog! [Musings of a Mark]

- The Laurinitis boys... this is badass. [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- DDS interviews Kenny Omega [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- WWE misleading someone (in this case GLAAD)? No, get out! [Cageside Seats]

- Andre Harrison looks at Destination X. [The Harrison Analysis]

- Rey Mysterio clotheslining a woman. Your ar... ah, you know what comes next. [PizzaBodySlam Tumblr]

- K Sawyer Paul talks to Rachel Davies of Wrestlegasm about blogging, CM Punk and why she could be the only fan of Stephanie McMahon on the planet other than Stephanie herself or Triple H. [Aggressive Art]

- John Cena is untouchable [Camel Clutch Blog]

- Scumbag wrestling promoter reaches new, new low. [With Leather]

- Scott Bowden talks about Jerry Jarrett's new biography. [Kentucky Fried 'Rasslin']

- Dear Vince, this is what we want. [I Want Wrestling]

- Women's wrestling mid-year report card. [Diva Dirt]

- Razor's stream of consciousness, scribed-in-real-time thoughts about RAW. [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- Impact review in handy-dandy Woo!/Boo! format [Fair to Flair]

- All about Talk Like Randy Savage Day [The Goozle]

Jamie Dobson Interviews:

- Axl Rage

Non-Wrestling Links:

- North Dakota may not be a state thanks to loophole in their constitution. Inb4 the Tea Party invades and makes the secession official. [Newser]

- Patton Oswald makes really good five-second movies. [FilmDrunk]

- Comcast fucks over a dude over data caps, causing some salient inquiries into net neutrality. [Kotaku]

- Who gives a fuck, it's not ginger ale. [The Oatmeal]

- Florida's media guide looks like it was designed by a 12 year old. No, scratch that, I think pre-teens can work Photoshop better than that. Make that designed by a 62 year old then. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- This Week in Fuck You: You. Yes, you. Shut up about Netflix, you fucksticks. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Would you kill a stranger to save football? That, and other questions answered by Drew Magary in the Funbag this week. [Deadspin]

- The Critic, ahead of its time for more than just its humor. 10 things it almost perfectly nailed. [Warming Glow]

- Those Zorblaxians had it coming, bastards. [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

- The top 20 minor Harry Potter characters, preemptive withdrawal treatment for youse guys. [Buzz Feed]

- Larry F'n Bowa's midseason report card. Related: Mike Meech of The Fightins will be the guest on The Wrestling Podcast tomorrow. [The Fightins]

- Mind-blowing map of the known Universe, just in case you want to feel insignificant. [Unreality Mag]

- Texting in 1911? TIME TRAVEL EXISTS! [How to Be a Retronaut]

- Teaster poster for The Dark Knight Rises! [Blast-o-Rama]

- Breaking news, the Philadelphia 76ers have been sold. [CBS Philly]

- The Song of Ice and Fire series (read: Game of Thrones) is one wordy-ass novel serial. [Gamma Squad]

- Rutgers football player paralyzed in a game is now walking. Heartwarming story. [Dr. Saturday]

- If the world ran off medieval technology today... [Cracked]

- Want to read some good X-Men trades? Here are 11 essential ones. [Topless Robot]

- Boring NASCAR race plagued by bad traffic. A double whammy. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Tyler Myers breaks the glass retorting to a Flyers fan taunting him. I ain't even mad. [Puck Daddy]

- Diablo Cody is writing the next Evil Dead movie. Nerd boners DEFLATE [AV Club]

- A song for departed Flyers rental forward Kris Versteeg. This isn't homoerotic in the slightest, by the way. At all. Not that there'd be anything wrong with it if it were. Just sayin'. [Flyers Goal Scored By]

- The 25 least valuable players in NFL. Somehow, there are no representatives from the Eagles offensive line here. [Grantland]

- The most unfair video game characters ever. Good list, although I would have put "cheating online assholes who call you a n00b on PSN..." oh wait, they're not characters, they're unfortunately real. [The Smoking Section]

- Did Tom Green invent planking? If so, I think flogging is the appropriate punishment. [Uproxx]

- Charlie Manuel tries to add Wilson Valdez to the NL All-Star roster. Hilarity ensues. [I Want to Go to the Zoo with Roy Halladay]

- Handy flowchart on what to expect in a Little League at-bat. [Sports Pickle]

- Is Brandon Graham's injury more serious than thought? [The 700 Level]

- Fear Itself teaser [Comic Books and Whatever]

Happy Anniversary, New World Order

A moment that will live in infamy
Screen Grab Credit: Mike Bridenstine

Fifteen years ago today, arguably the most important angle in wrestling history took place at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach, FL. WCW's Bash at the Beach pay-per-view event saw the official formation of the New World Order, the "invading" faction of Kevin Nash, Scott Hall and Hulk Hogan, at the expense of Lex Luger, Sting and (who else) Randy Savage. Eric Gargiulo has a comprehensive recap of the actual event and the months leading up to it at the Camel Clutch Blog. For a guy who bungled a lot of other stuff in the following years and even decades, Eric Bischoff really got it right here. Just reading that article reinforces that, as even now, I got goosebumps just reading the transcript of Hogan's promo after the turn.

Of course, Bischoff couldn't follow up on this moment in the long term, which is why WCW no longer exists as an independent entity today. Since I write about those transgressions a lot, I'm going to pass now and instead focus on the influence of this singular moment in time. Within the wrestling industry, you could argue that this was perhaps the most influential moment ever. There were so many elements at play here that have been attempted to be aped by any wrestling company. You have the top draw in wrestling history to that point turning against the fans. It was a ballsy move, even if Hogan's welcome in WCW was wearing thin by that time.

It was also the moment where WCW truly went national. Like Gargiulo wrote in his recap, until 1994, WCW was really only national in name only, as it was still more or less a "Southern" promotion. When they went out and got Hogan, Savage, Bobby Heenan, Gene Okerlund and recouped Ric Flair and Luger, the company really put the full court press on trying to expand its reach. It wasn't until BatB '96 when they had their huge moment. It was at a perfect time too, as the WWF was at a crossroads. Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart had taken them as far as they could, and while the wheels were turning on Steve Austin, who had just won King of the Ring, it'd be a few months before his run would get started in earnest.

I think the most influential part of this event though was Hogan's promo at the end. It really was one of the first legit teases of breaking the fourth wall that I can remember happening at that level. Obviously, ECW had guys potshotting WWF and WCW, but they were still in the underground. The newly minted invaders had a national stage. Hogan was liberally referring to the company "up North" and talking about money and other things that guys didn't talk about back then on pay-per-view or nationally-broadcast cable TV.

The event even has had mainstream implications. Any time there's a betrayal or anything that the media likes to purport as betrayal, someone, somewhere is comparing it to Hogan's turn. The most recent example was last year, when LeBron James made the hideously misinformed decision to announce his intentions of signing with the Heat on ESPN. No sooner did he say "I'm taking my talents to South Beach" then did the comparisons to Hogan dropping the leg on Savage begin. They were a propos too, but only if you consider the fans of Cleveland to be WCW and not the Cavs organization. However, that's a whole other blog for a whole other blogger to tackle.

However, I think the lasting implication, at least for today and for future anniversaries, is that damn, it's been 15 years already? Fuck, I feel old. Seriously, while it does feel like it has taken place a long time ago (unlike 2000-01 WWF, which I feel is still fresh in my mind for whatever reason), it still is staggering to think that babies born on today's date in 1996 are in the middle of high school. And to see Hogan staggering around the Impact Zone, a shell of his former self, only hammers that point home harder. (And that's not even putting into context how the other players are faring from that night...)

Still, even for as much as the wrestling industry has changed in 15 years, it's still cool to look back on the dates that mattered. July 7, 1996 may have been the date that mattered most, regardless of how badly Bischoff and his cronies paid it off (or in a sense never paid it off).

Weekend Wrap-Up: RIP Ryze

WWWYKI
Screen Grab Credit: LongIslandIceZ Youtube Page

Not really a whole lot to report for wrestling this weekend. No PPVs, no indie shows that I can really find that would be of interest to you guys, I think. So, here's what I've got:

- Ryze Woo, a Florida indie worker whose real name was Justin Honeycutt, died in a freak accident over the weekend. He was working at his day job, at an amusement park in Orlando, working 90 feet in the air and fell six feet, hanging by his safety harnesses. Usually those things should be able to save your life by absorbing the shock of falling. I'm not sure what the issue was, but regardless, a young man is dead, which is terrible. My sincerest condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues.

- Zack Ryder was announced as the WWE Internet Champion and successfully defended his title against Primo at a house show in Melbourne. I honestly don't know if this is a house show rib or whether it's a test run for the big shows, but hey, at least they're doing something for him with a live crowd.

- Today is International Talk Like Randy Savage Day. It was created by Trey Irby of Wrestling Theory and Bill Baconhill, and it's gained a lot of steam. Now, why have it on Independence Day? Well, Savage is an American hero. DIG IT. Anyway, you can participate by talking like Macho. If you want to film yourself doing it, then put it on Youtube or post it directly on the event's wall. OOOH YEAH.

Randy Savage's Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Photo Credit: WWE.com

Via Cageside Seats

Randy Savage died of heart disease according to his autopsy and toxicology report. There were trace levels of different chemicals in his body, including alcohol below the legal limit, but they were all in non-lethal levels. Now, whether years of substance abuse contributed to said heart failure is another question, one that we can only really speculate over since there's no real record that he abused steroids or drugs. It's all circumstantial, but it's still not hard to imagine.

That being said, no matter what the cause of his heart attack was, even a month later, it still sucks that he's gone.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Your Midweek Links: Baaaahston Edition

Not the picture selected for Corgi Addict, but still, it's my doggie!
Photo Credit: Me

It's hump day, so here are some links to help get you through the rest of the week:

Self-Shilling

- Have you listened to Episode 5 of TWP yet? If not, WHAT THE SHIT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Especially if you're a PWG fan! [Episode 5: Paul London Calling]

- My dog made it to the Corgi Addict Tumblr page. Why? BECAUSE HE'S THE BEST DOG EVER, GAWD. [Obsessive Corgi Disorder]

Wrestling Links

- Fucked up story out of All-Japan Pro Wrestling. One wrestler beats the shit out of another one in the locker room (legit) while four others watched, and the victim is in a coma. Keiji Mutoh has to resign his presidency over this. [Cageside Seats]

- Even in announcing her hiatus, Kharma's still a game-changer. [Fair to Flair]

- Rosa Mendes apparently had a wardrobe malfunction last night in a dark match. The bad news? It was in a dark match. [Diva Dirt]

- Eric Gargiulo recounts the best jobbers from the 1980s WWF. [Camel Clutch Blog]

- DDS interviews Serena Deeb. [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- Jesse Ventura shares his Macho Man memories. [I Want Wrestling]

- Shaq and WWE are a great fit. Seriously. [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- Classic promo alert: Bill Dundee's tall tale spun about Macho Man. [Kentucky Fried 'Rasslin']

- Warrior making a ton of random noises. [PizzaBodySlam's Tumblr]

- Obligatory Best and Worst of RAW for this week [With Leather]

Jamie Dobson Interviews

- Player Uno

- Sensational Scott Reed

- GQ Gallo

Non-Wrestling Links

- Bill Simmons launched a new site, Grantland. Here's one of the first articles, about LeBron James not measuring up in the Finals. [Grantland]

- Flava Flav had a $6M coke habit. Sounds low to me. [Warming Glow]

- Unreality's review of what I thought was Game of Thrones most important episode this season. [Unreality Mag]

- 25 Awesome Sand Castles... before the waves knocked them down, of course [Holy Taco]

- Meme alert: Things Fry isn't sure of. [Gamma Squad]

- How to make a successful movie [Pleated Jeans]

- Marty Day reviews Super 8 [Blast-o-Rama]

- Mountain West's new logo looks eerily familiar... [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- Chloe Sevigny to play a pre-op tranny assassin on TV. I don't care what you say, it's not as embarrassing a role as having to blow Vincent Gallo on camera. [Screen Junkies]

- Hipsters are making fishing lures a fashion statement. They make it really hard for me not to hate them... [Film Drunk]

- HOW THE FUCK YA DOIN', GRADE SCHOOL SWIM TEAM? [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Dogs chase cats, AT-ATs chase dogs. [Skull Swap]

- Danger Guerrero gives us a peek in Domonic Brown's first day at Phillies High. [The Fightins]

- A look at how randomly NASCAR doles out penalties. [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- Nathan Horton gets laid out. Aaron Rome will sit until Game 7 (if necessary) for the late hit. [Puck Daddy]

- Wanna hear a voicemail from a butthurt patron getting kicked out of the Alamo Drafthouse Theater for texting? Of course you do! [Uproxx]

- Best comic book bars ever. [Topless Robot]

- Sixers about to get sold. [The 700 Level]

- A retrospective on Terrelle Pryor's abrupt end to his college career. Meanwhile, the bottom has really fallen out on tOSU, hasn't it? [Dr. Saturday]

- Ain't it true? [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

- Alternate titles to current sports books [Sports Pickle]

- Y'know, if you follow the Phils, you'd think this article WASN'T in the Onion. [Onion Sports Network]

- Guy plays with his junk in front of teenagers at a Burger King... yep. [With Leather]

- 100 Funniest Brits [BuzzFeed]

- A rant about fan comics. [Comic Books and Whatever]

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Lanny Poffo: Savage Had Heart Defect

Via F4W Online

Lanny Poffo, brother of the late, great Randy Savage, has claimed in a recent interview that the former WWE Champion suffered from a heart condition known as ventricular fibrillation, which causes sudden-onset heart attacks. According to the interview, Poffo claims that Savage's wife, Barbara, was able to steer the car away from a head-on collision with a motorcycle after the heart attack came on. It's interesting to note that the medical examiner's report has not come back yet, so this is not confirmed, but then again, if anyone is going to know someone's medical history, it'll be a guy's brother and wife.

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Follow Friday: The Church of Macho

I know Macho Week was last week, but I didn't catch wind of this Twitter account until after Friday, so DEAL WITH IT. Anyway, there's a new religion sprouting up around Randy Savage, the Intercontinental Church of "Macho Man" Randy Savage. You can follow the church's pastor @TheMachoChurch.

If there were any religion that based around a wrestler that could catch on, I think this one's a good one. I mean, I'd have started the Order of Awesome and Righteous Jerichoholics, appointing myself as first Ayatollah of Rock 'n Rolla, but I'm not the pop-culture religious type. However, these guys are, and I commend them, because hey, why not celebrate Macho Man? Besides, if there are religions out there that worship a flying spaghetti monster or formed out of the whims of some fat guy with an epic double chin who happened to make four really good sci-fi flicks, one alright one and a terrible one, then hey, why not Macho Man? Give 'em a follow!

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

The Experience Experience

Aries: About as old as Macho Man at his WWF debut age

When "Macho Man" Randy Savage showed up for duty at the newly-expanded-to-national World Wrestling Federation, he was a fresh-faced newcomer who was making his first REAL impact in the United States outside of Kentucky and Memphis.

He was also 32 years old with nine years experience as a pro wrestler.

If the WWF had the same standards then that the WWE today has now, then we may never have had the pleasure of watching Savage. It's rumored that WWE doesn't take on new signees over the age of 30. Whether that was a ploy by Gabe Sapolsky, who broke that news on his site, to garner more sympathy for the indie stars like Chris Hero and Austin Aries who for whatever reason aren't on WWE's radar or if it's true that it's policy is irrelevant, given that the company has trended towards recruiting guys at very young ages, sending them to FCW for however long they feel necessary and then debuting them on the big stage. From an institutional standpoint, that's a great plan. You want someone indoctrinated into the style your company purveys, then by all means, you should do it from the time they really start to learn how to become a "superstar" in their parlance.

But there does seem to be something missing from a lot of the NXT alums (Daniel Bryan excluded, obviously) and FCW call-ups that even the "new blood" of five years ago had in spades. Is the downturn in the wrestling business to blame? Or is it that maybe FCW isn't exactly the best environment in which to gain experience on how to break into WWE as a ready-to-go entity?

Really, a guy like Savage, or even folks like Bret Hart, Hulk Hogan (who coincidentally got part of his seasoning as part of the regional-era WWWF), Ricky Steamboat, King Kong Bundy, Ted DiBiase and other mainstays of the early national-expansion-era WWF got their experience from the territory system. It's a system that was struck a critical blow by the rise of WCW as an answer to the WWF, and it's something that we will probably never see again in terms of how important it was back in those days. How do you replicate that, a system where guys learn how to work, promo and do all the things that pro wrestlers do in order to manipulate crowds?

Maybe the answer does lie in the indies. Notice that the people who are really making splashes in WWE in terms of character, work or both, are all on the older side and have that experience. Dolph Ziggler was a throwback from the old developmental territories, where guys like Jim Cornette and Paul Heyman were calling the shots (making it feel like more of an indie fed rather than a precursor to WWE?). Daniel Bryan, Kharma and CM Punk all made their bones in the indies, especially in ROH. Wade Barrett, Sheamus and to a very limited extent in terms of character polish, Drew McIntyre, all came from Europe, where things work a bit differently. The only one that I can see that has risen up and really been given faith from the front office (even intermittently) that came from FCW was Jack Swagger, and even then, he feels way more polarizing to the smart fans I converse with than others.

It might seem that the point I'm making is that FCW BAD INDIES GOOD, but that's not really the case. I don't think that FCW in and of itself is bad, but I do think that maybe there's too much of an emphasis on rushing guys up from the fed and putting them into the spotlight at too early an age. I think that having Brock Lesnar and Randy Orton work out the way they did at young ages maybe turned the WWE front offices away from the fact that those guys were the exceptions, not the rules.

Maybe there should be more of an incubation time in FCW for these guys, unless an obvious exception to the rule comes along and deserves to get shunted up to the main roster. Maybe the indies should be scoured more and guys like Aries, Hero, Claudio Castagnoli and even Jimmy Jacobs (a guy of whom I'm not a fan but has appeal) should be considered. Maybe more experience is needed for guys coming in so that they have a handle on how to do things rather than needing to learn them on the fly on camera, which to me is too late.

Does it take shelf-life away from wrestlers when they start later? Maybe, but at the same time, look at how long guys from "back then" stayed around and were effective at playing crowds and drawing money. Either way, experience isn't a bad thing, and really, the WWE should be looking at getting as many good years as they can from guys, not as many years, no matter what the quality.

Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein - Please visit his site to view the plentiful amounts of pictures he's taken for DGUSA, ROH and other indie feds: Get Lost Photography

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!

Your Midweek Links: Kharma Police

Lot of Kharma links this week
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's Hump Day, so if you're having a little trouble getting through the midpoint, here are some links to get you through:

Self-Shilling:

- In case you haven't listened to it yet, here's The Wrestling Podcast's Randy Savage Tribute Episode, with Seth Zillmann of the A1 Podcast. [Episode 4: The Macho Man Who Sold the World]

- More Macho Man podcasting goodness, Jason Mann and I talk about the first SummerSlam main event on his podcast. [Wrestlespective Radio]

Wrestling Links:

- Rare Macho Man audio [I Want Wrestling]

- John Hyperion interviews Rachel Summerlyn. [Dirty Dirty Sheets]

- Stephen T. Stone takes his turn shouting into the abyss re: the WWE's booking habits. [Grapple Kingdom]

- Speaking of shouting into the abyss, Andre Harrison's five point plan to save TNA. [The Harrison Analysis]

- A review of Brock Lesnar's new book from David Bixenspan. It's not a good one. [Cageside Seats]

- Bruiser Brody abusing the son-in-law of Dick the Bruiser. [South Atlanta Wrestling]

- Trey Irby of Wrestling Theory guests on Fair to Flair with a piece about Kharma and feminism. [Fair to Flair]

- Speaking of Wrestling Theory, more on Kharma, as to why the Bella Twins' attacks on Kharma weren't as bad as some though. [Wrestling Theory]

- Even MORE Kharma, my blogging Bro-bby Heenan, PizzaBodySlam, with his reply to that thread on Tumblr. [PizzaBodySlam Tumblr]

- Common sense about Kharma's comments about Jim Ross on Monday. [Camel Clutch Blog]

- A month of Kharma in WWE: A retrospective. [Diva Dirt]

- Razor gives the THQ press release on WWE '12 the FJM treatment. [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- Best and Worst of RAW for this past week... maybe the best one yet. [With Leather]

- Jerry Lawler's recollections of working with and against Randy Savage [Kentucky Fried 'Rasslin']

Jamie Dobson Interviews:

- Johnny Gargano

- Justin Mane

- CJ O'Doyle

- Marc Mandrake

Non-Wrestling Links:

- While Jim Tressel finds support from a legendary golfer... [Dr. Saturday]

- ...he gets no such love from an actual, honest-to-God alumnus of the school he boned. [With Leather]

- I'd totally eat at a food truck called This Is Spinal Tapas [Film Drunk]

- To jack it to pictures of a hot coworker or not to jack it to pictures of a hot coworker? That is the question. [Kissing Suzy Kolber]

- Ever wonder what a "Canuck" was? With the Stanley Cup Finals upon us, I'm sure you have. [Puck Daddy]

- DC Comics rebooting ALL of their series this coming fall. I like this idea a lot, actually, although the only comic series I really read, Green Lantern, doesn't need one. [Topless Robot]

- Cracked Photoplasty: What if real life were like RPGs? [Cracked]

- You think our leaders say dumb shit? Queen Elizabeth's husband has been gaffing for 90 years now! [The Independent]

- The Phillies get a visit from Guy Fieri... [Zoo with Roy]

- I rarely link the same site twice here, but I think ZWR deserves it. How Charlie Manuel came about to let Wilson Valdez pitch in that epic 19-inning game... "Chu no my nayn?" [Zoo with Roy]

- Kevin Owen interviews Darryl Dawkins. Side note, why hasn't someone in pro wrestling adopted the nickname "Chocolate Thunder" yet? [Hugging Harold Reynolds]

- The evolution of Super Smash Bros. graphics and a question about Nintendo's processing power [Unreality Mag]

- 40 songs about jackin' it. [BuzzFeed]

- Drew Magary has never seen a dead body. Why does that surprise me so much? [Deadspin]

- 25 Alternate Versions of Batman. Honestly, this list is missing Batman as a member of GWAR. [Gamma Squad]

- The upside to Jim Tressel getting the heave ho at Ohio State. Note: Jason Mann, Josh Zerkle, Pete Speer, Billy Dunlevy and other OSU fans, you probably aren't agreeing with this. [Every Day Should Be Saturday]

- George Lucas has 50 hours of scripts for a Star Wars TV show written. In other news, *FART NOISE* [Warming Glow]

- Did you miss Oprah's last show? Odds are, if you read this blog, you have. Fear not, because here's a recap for you! [Holy Taco]

- I don't know, if Clevelanders haven't committed mass suicide yet, I'm not sure LeBron winning a title would make them take the leap. (KIDDING PETE GAWD) [Sports Pickle]

- When PBS reports that Tupac and Biggie are still alive, that's when you know it's too good to be true. [Uproxx]

- Never invite your mother to dirty limerick night. [Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]

- Back to Egypt for you, Sons of Abraham [The Onion]

- Why Scottie Pippen is full of poop in calling LeBron James better than Michael Jordan. [The Smoking Section]

- Link, made out of urls. This is so meta it's not even funny. [Buzz Brewery]

- The Atlanta Thrashers, remembered for... eh, they really weren't memorable for anything but getting beaten by teams, especially the Flyers. [The 700 Level]

- More Thrash-to-Winnipeg musings, a more radical expansion plan from Ryan Lockhard. [Flyers Goal Scored By]

Remember you can contact TH and ask him questions about wrestling, life or anything else. Please refer to this post for contact information. He always takes questions!