SlingshotSuplex

Tully and Arn. Backbone of a promotion guys who can work and talk. Can carry the ball on TV and on house shows. Can get over on their own and unselfishly get others over.

I loved David at the time for the reasons mentioned thus far. Tony provides a great contrast to David's unbridled enthusiasm as the fake radio voice "professional" broadcaster who keeps it together.

Wow. The podcast bomb has been dropped.

This was one of my top takeaways from a chronological re-watch of WCW Clashes & PPVs when the WWE Network launched. Seemingly every new show, there was either a minor or major tweak to the Freebirds' gimmick, rarely for the better, yet not only did management stick with them, they kept winning titles!

Another fantatic show. I had hoped Prazak would be on someday. "Hollywood" John Tatum was great, and I particularly liked the Tatum & Victory combo. Shimmer really was the revolution before there was a revolution. The current NXT/WWE women's wrestling dynamic simply doesn't happen without Shimmer. Meltizer was definitely being picky, but ECW conversations then and even now tend be so ideologically loaeded that it can be difficult to have a reasonable conversation about the company's strenghts and weaknesses.

What a great career. Like many, I first saw him when he was past 50. For all his many accomplishments I might add he's probably the best worker of that age I've seen and certainly among US talent. He's become one of my upper-tier favorites since I've made wrestling's past my top priority.

The twin referees angle 2/88 on The Main Event was the last straw with me and the WWF for several years. I was already an NWA loyalist but was still pretty enthusiastic about the WWF through at least Mania III. Here was the most watched pro wrestling match in US history, and it ends in what I found the silliest, most intelligence-insulting thing I'd seen in years with Hogan's insinuation DiBiase "paid for the plastic surgery" when I"d seen both Earl and Dave on TV for years. I was suprised to, in recent years, discover that Meltzer loved the angle and thought it was a creative way to get the belt off Hogan, so there you go. Hogan v. The Butcher as a Starrcade main event was enough to end my days as a WCW loyalist. I walked away from WWE again during the Orton/Cena years but re-immersed myself in the indies.

These have been informative. Chicky Starr next?

Great listen! I agree about the Andersons being off the ballot clearing the path for the Assassins and also remain hopeful that tag teams will attract stronger consideration moving forward.

Dave's assumption all along seemed to be that Styles needs a few more years on top, so why wasn't he added in a few more years rather than now?

I liked that they switched up the shine sequence, too. The finish, with the roll up leaving the legal man vulnerable to interference from the illegal man, reminds me of the Fernadnez/Rude title change on TBS, only an even better fit with it setting up Jake's finisher.

I liked him when he broke in ECW but not as much upon re-watch, but the same might be said for all of ECW from that era. As a Crockett fan, I was probably just into the gimmick. He wasn't all that convincing in the Anderson gimmick, though and I'm struggling to think of too many remarkable qualities with his work.

Scott Irwin is the other guy in the superplex inventor conversation.

I was shocked to learn that Vince had big sincere babyface plans for HTM because even as a 12 year old mark I was convinced he was clearly a fake good guy always intended to turn. That plan certainly makes more sense than any notion he'd be huge as a face.

Really love Bruce Mitchell in for the Magnum TA talk. Truly fantastic. While UWF had equal talent, better announcing, and hotter TV, it was wishful thinking on Dave's part to even consider they could overtake Crockett in this timeframe. Crockett had TBS and Watts didn't even have cable. The UWF expansion, which you're right to note had to happen, was nevertheless a total bust. Despite the quality of their product, there's just no evidence the UWF was going to take off commercially on the big stage. While the cracks in JCP's facade were visible, they were still reasonbly hot and had numerous over acts. It was for good reason that Dave had confidence in Watts and was hypersensitive to Dusty's flaws, but it's a long way from that to UWF as #2. To Watts' credit, he was quick to recognize it wasn't working out business-wise and wasn't the type of guy to go down with the ship.