I usually don’t talk about these things but this is worth mentioning.Impact – 266,000 viewers
ROH – 227,000 viewers
ROH airs at 11pm and has already aired in syndication by the time it airs on Destination America. Now it’s within shouting distance of TNA’s new episodes. I know there was a debate last night as well as the World Series, but ROH is now close to even in viewers with Impact while airing a show that debuted in syndication days earlier. That’s not good for TNA no matter how you look at it.
You know what move didn’t really do jack?Ric Flair’s Figure Four. Take a look at how he won his World Titles (some recognized, some unrecognized. Don’t start with the “IT’S MORE THAN 16 TIMES” stuff again).
WCW – 1 – Pin with feet on the ropes
WCW – 2 – Rollup
WCW – 3 – Rollup
WCW – 4 – Brass knuckles
WCW – 5 – Shoe to the face
WCW – 6 – Pin in the figure four
WCW – 7 – Small package
WCW – 8 – Awarded title
WWF – 1 – Won Royal Rumble
WWF – 2 – Pin in the Figure Four
NWA – 1 – Pin after Dusty Rhodes collapsed
NWA – 2 – Cross body
NWA – 3 – Rollup
NWA – 4 – Pin in the Figure Four
NWA – 5 – Pin after a ram into the cage
NWA – 6 – Small package
NWA – 7 – Rollup
NWA – 8 – Pin in the Figure Four
Yeah Flair won a few with it via pin, but he never won a World Title with the Figure Four via a traditional submission. However, when you think of Flair, you instantly think of the Figure Four, despite it almost never winning a major match. It says a lot about the way you can make something big just by talking about it and that you don’t always have to see everything to believe it.
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Yes, this is again stemming from the sex tape. Basically what he said to the FBI might be different than what he said under oath. That would be a crime, and therefore could mean jail time. I hope Bubba’s wife was awesome, because this has to be the biggest mistake he’s ever made. Like, bigger than Santa With Muscles.
Read Jim Duggan’s Book
And it made me proud to be an American. Or Canadian for like three weeks.
This was a cheap buy so why not. I met Duggan at Axxess last year and he couldn’t have been a nicer guy so it was a pretty easy choice. The book was a lot more straightforward than Holly’s but in a way that makes it more fun. Duggan is far nicer than most wrestling writers as he rarely throws anyone under the bus or says bad things about anyone, save for himself at times.
It’s an easy, fun read that took me about three days to get through and doesn’t get boring. Above all else, Duggan has an interesting take on people like the Radicalz and most modern young wrestlers: yeah they can do all kinds of moves that he could never dream of, but isn’t it interesting that he got more over by shouting HO and chanting USA while holding a board than they got by doing all those moves? It’s not about all the moves you can do, but rather about connecting with the fans in some way. If you can do that, they’ll never abandon you, but there’s always going to be someone who can do a flashier move. The only one that got more popular than Duggan (arguably of course) was Eddie, who had a story that the fans can connect to. Imagine that.
Duggan’s book is worth reading and can be found pretty cheap so check it out if you’re a fan of 80s/90s wrestling.
Read Hardcore Holly’s Book
And I was very surprised.This book received some rave reviews when it came out and my first reaction was “but it’s Bob Holly.” I mean, the guy wasn’t exactly a huge star over the years but people were losing their minds over this. I started reading it on Friday and I was done by the end of Saturday because I couldn’t put it down.
Holly has a style that is every easy to read and he has no problem ripping on anyone he didn’t like. That being said, he’s just as willing to praise anyone who he thinks is worthy of it and there are several names he likes quite a bit. There are a lot of good stories in here, but the tone is what makes it work.
Holly is really good at keeping things simple and doesn’t seem to think he’s the greatest thing in the history of wrestling, which is really refreshing. Yeah he has some issues with some pushes being stopped on a moment’s notice and some criticisms of some booking decisions, but he keeps coming back to the same line: it was his job and he did what he was told to do because he had to pay his bills. So many wrestlers seem to forget that they’re employees at a job. If you told your boss that you weren’t going to do something, how well do you think it would go?
This is a rare wrestling book that really is worth checking out as it’s awesome stuff and a very easy read. Holly is a guy who knows his place in wrestling and was around for some of the most important moments in wrestling history. There are some things in there that I don’t agree with, but it’s never dull and worth a read.
This is a huge shock and it’s going to take a bit for me to process it. More on this later of course but I’m stunned at the moment. Piper was a huge star when I was growing up and one of the first big stars I remember.
Thought of the Day: Appreciating vs. Liking
This is one of those things that wrestling fans will never seem to understand but I’ll keep trying to explain it.
Something that fans don’t seem to understand is you can appreciate something while not caring about it. Yesterday it was announced that New Japan will continue to have its TV show airing on AXS TV. I saw the headline about it and didn’t react. Why didn’t I react? Because I don’t care about New Japan. I’m well aware and completely agree with the fact that it’s some of if not the best in ring action in the world today, but I don’t have a connection to it. I’ll watch a New Japan show a year or two at most, but I have no desire to watch any more than that.
Now, does that mean I don’t know or get wrestling? I certainly wouldn’t think so. All it means is that I don’t care about New Japan. To put it into mainstream sports terms, at the moment, the St. Louis Cardinals are one of if not the best teams in Major League Baseball. However, I don’t care about that team. Instead, I care about the Cleveland Indians, who really aren’t that good. However, I care about the Indians because they’re my team.
I care about WWE more than New Japan because I’ve watched WWE since before I can remember. They’re my team. I’m well aware that New Japan does things better than WWE, but that doesn’t mean I want to watch them all the time. I’ll watch them occasionally if I’m in the mood to, but it’s not like WWE where I want to see every thing they do. Me not wanting to watch New Japan doesn’t mean I don’t understand or love wrestling. It means I have different taste than other fans and that’s ok.
Thought of the Day: The Best Face In Wrestling Today
This was a comment but it’s worth mentioning to see how crazy you people can say I am.I’m going with Bayley. I can’t think of someone who is as innocent and wholesome as she is. She believes in the powers of hugs, she gives girls snap on bracelets, and the sign that she’s getting serious is cinching up her headband. Bayley is everything that a face is supposed to be, including someone who loses early to make her big comeback and win later.
Buddy Landel Passes Away At Age 53
Landel was an interesting case as he was a self proclaimed Ric Flair tribute wrestler, down to the same look (plus about 50lbs), style, robes and finishing move. However, he had a lot of drug issues over the years which stopped his pushes several times. He was talented enough to be a solid midcard guy though and had some solid matches and runs back in the 80s.
Early word says that it was a car accident which Landel came home from, but was later found unresponsive.
Some Quick Wrestling Book Recaps
So I was at the Half Price Bookstore (praise be its name) and four a nice selection of reasonably priced wrestling books earlier in the week. Five days later and I’ve read them all so it’s time for some quick recaps.
The first three are all by my, for lack of a better word, mentor Scott Keith, who has been doing what I do for about 20 years now. He wrote a bunch of books back in the day and here are a handful of them.
First up we have The Buzz On Professional Wrestling from 2001, which is more like a textbook for newcomers. It maps out the basic ideas of the major wrestling companies and professional wrestling in general. This was about 99.9% recaps for me and would be for most people reading this, but it’s designed to be mainly the basics, which is an interesting concept.
Second was Wrestling’s One Ring Circus from 2004, which is much more focused on a single period. In this case, the focus is on the time period from the InVasion up through Wrestlemania XIX, breaking down each time period and all major points in between. This was a quick read and is meant as more of a mockery of HHH and Stephanie during this period, but there are definitely some valid criticisms of a time period that not a lot of people are fans of. It’s also interesting to see John Cena mentioned as a young potential star without the tongue planted firmly in cheek.
Finally from Mr. Keith we have 2006’s Wrestling’s Made Men, which is the same concept as One Ring Circus but focusing on post Wrestlemania XIX up through mid 2005. In this case it’s a collection of pay per view recaps with extra details filled in. This isn’t as interesting of a time but there is definitely a lot of stuff worth checking out in it.
Finally overall we have a more traditional wrestling book with Bill Watts’ The Cowboy and the Cross. Watts is one of the more controversial figures in wrestling history as he’s a very old school guy who pushed Mid-South to a very impressive place in wrestling. He’s one of the few bookers who was destroyed by a force completely outside his control (the collapse of the Texas oil industry), but that style didn’t exactly work well in WCW.
The problem with Watts is he comes off as someone who has almost never been wrong in his entire life and seemed to have every great idea in the history of the business. If someone disagreed with him as a talent, it was time to throw hands and no one ever beat Watts. Like ever, including Verne Gagne, who would rather back down that fight him.
He also loved Danny Hodge at a level that is probably unhealthy. Don’t get me wrong: Danny Hodge is one of the toughest men to ever live and probably the only wrestler who could defeat Kurt Angle in a shoot (note that I said could, not would), but you would think he cured cancer, invented pizza and single handedly got the Kardashians off TV and Justin Bieber deported to Mars.
Overall though, Watts is definitely someone whose story is worth reading, though you should take some of it with a grain of salt. He comes off as one of those guys who was successful, but I have some issues with a few of his stories. Also, there are some moments where he doesn’t do himself any favors shaking the stereotypes of being a bit of a chauvinist and racist, but it’s not the worst in the world.
One final note: a lot of his book is dedicated to talking about his Christianity. I have zero issue with that and always enjoy hearing someone talk about it, but there comes a point where even I was thinking “good grief man, we get it already.” The book is worth checking out for some of the details on stuff, but like I said, some of the stuff he takes full or even majority credit for sound a bit shaky.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete Monday Nitro Reviews Volume III at Amazon for just $3.99 at: