King Kamala

The Beach Boys- "Don't Worry Baby" The Zombies- "She's Not There" and/or "Time of The Season" Wilson Pickett- "In The Midnight Hour"

I'll limit myself to three The Four Tops- "Reach Out, I'll Be There" The Temptations- "(I Know) I'm Losing You" Donovan- "Hurdy Gurdy Man" One of these things is not like the others.

I vote Green whenever possible and if there's not a Green running, I'll vote Democrat. I really should be better educated about state and local issues... I voted for Tom Allen in the U.S. Senate race. Doesn't seem like he has much of a shot anymore against Collins. Pretty remarkable that she's going to cruise to re-election considering Bush's approval ratings and the fact that Obama's going to cruise to a 10-15% victory. I voted for Chellie Pingree for Congress. My brother worked for her office and there's no Green running in that race so I figure "what the hell?"

According to wikipedia (yeah, not the most reliable source), PWI stripped the AWA of its world title status on December 12th, 1990 after Larry Zbysko jumped ship. AWA closed after a one-off show in May '91 (Headlined by Wahoo McDaniel and Greg Gagne Vs The Destruction Crew- surely a main event anywhere in the country). Though they did actually run a few shows in '94 with Zbysko inexplicably back as champion.

Nah, WWF started expanding in the last year or so of Backlund's title run and even before the expansion, he'd make the occasional title defense in other territories. Besides, they kept the boycott for a year and a half into Hogan's title run where they were definitely running nationally. IIRC, PWI didn't recognize the WWF World title as a world title because they were bitter over WWF starting Victory Magazine (The precursor to WWF Magazine) in late '83.

Good to see that El Dandy is still wrestling (and in contention for the NWA World title!)

I'd be curious to read a current issue of PWI. From what I've heard, they're still semi-kayfabe. Which is just awesome. Unfortunately, I haven't seen one in years. Fake edit: Ah but they have a website....Shit yes! It's still kayfabe!

Honestly, I was always more of a WWF Magazine guy during the peak of my markdom ('94-'96). The only single article that really sticks out in my mind was one at some point in '94 about Yokozuna that frequently referenced how he squashed Hulk Hogan and mentioned how Hogan was sent packing for some old timers federation down south. As a mark, I was downright shocked that they'd slam the former face of their company. Amusingly enough for some reason, I didn't put two and two together and realize that the old timers federation down south was WCW. WCW was a very small blip on my radar until Nitro came along. Actually, I actually thought they were saying that Hulk Hogan was wrestling on the Southern indy circuit. While I never was huge into the Apter mags during their heyday- I credit WOW Magazine with opening the doors of smarkdom for me- for better or worse. I loved that magazine. As Timmy said- it had everything an adolescent could want. That and WWF Magazine were the only ones I remember having a subscription to. Oh and for a while in '01ish, PWI was releasing compilations of old interviews and articles from the archive and I loved picking those up. I remember reading a kayfabe interview with Stan Hansen circa his AWA World title run where he talked about how he was only in wrestling to get away from his fat wife and ugly kids. I vaguely recall the interview ending with him chasing the interviewer out of the room.

Ric Flair fought Andre The Giant during Flair's first NWA U.S. title run in 1977. One of their matches won 2nd Runner Up for PWI Match of The Year. I'm not sure if the match is on tape but I vividly remember seeing a picture of Flair and Andre having a staredown at the beginning of said match during one of those "Remember When" columns in PWI or one of the magazines of that ilk.

Man, my answers weren't very good. I guess I'm not boarding hard enough.

I think you're crazy. Diesel/Bigelow or Diesel/Backlund probably wouldn't be **** barnburners or even *** matches but they surely would have been leagues better than his matches with Sid and Mabel. Backlund and Bigelow are competent at worst and fantastic with the right opponent. Sid like Nash only has good matches against Bret and HBK and I don't think Mabel's ever had a decent match against anybody. And if we're talking about worst champions ever workrate wise, I'd put Sid and Warrior below Nash and maybe Yokozuna too. Not really sure about pre-expansion era WWWF/WWF World Champions but from the little I've seen of them, I don't think any of them were worse than those four.\ And ya know I sure I'm the only one but Sid Vs Diesel could have been a good angle. Hell, the basis of it was pretty decent (Diesel defends the honor of his former friend who brought him into the WWF and gets revenge on batshit insane Sid) but it was just booked so lethargically (like most things in '95 WWF were) and there was really no reason to drag a clearly bored Ted DiBiase and his band of hasbeens and neverweres and a babyface Bam Bam Bigelow with no heat into it.

Even as a nosepicking mark in the early '90 I could find much amusement in the fact that everybody on Savage's team had either feuded with him or would go on to feud with him.

Monsoon didn't become WWF President until the tail end of Diesel's run. And as much as I like Gorilla, I didn't think his run as President was all that memorable outside of getting pummeled by Vader. As for fantasy booking, I actually once did a '95 WWF fantasy booking but I never bothered posting it anywhere. I won't do it now but long story short, I would have had Diesel face Backlund at The Royal Rumble and win in a dominating fashion (but not quite the squash it was in real life). Then I would have put him Vs Bret Hart in a Face Vs Face match at WrestleMania XI. After that I would have paired him against Bam Bam Bigelow (on a tear and squashing everybody in sight, enraged by LT beating him) at King of The Ring and Sid. For the latter, I would have tried to avoid singles matches as much as possible. I'd do Diesel and Shawn Michaels Vs Bam Bam Bigelow and Sid at In Your House II and a triangle match between Sid, Diesel, and Shawn Michaels at SummerSlam. In the latter match, Diesel would go over but Michaels would put up a valiant effort and the announcers would play him up as a potential future world champion. Meanwhile, Bret Hart is quietly toiling away in the upper mid-card and picking up victory after victory. Then we get the Survivor Series match between Bret and Diesel that we all know and love.

Um...because I disagree with you about 90% of the time. And was surprised to see you make a really good point. I was pretty apathetic about the product myself. Like Cheech- I was super excited when Diesel won the title in record time but then they toned down everything that had made Nash so popular up to that point and turned him into their next attempt to recapture the magic of Hulkamania. It didn't help that he was stuck with a bunch of lame opponents. At the time, I didn't even buy Shawn Michaels as a credible world title challenger at WrestleMania at all (watching that era again through the magic of video I've changed my mind a bit). By King of The Ring '95, I'd almost completely stopped watching WWF and wouldn't really watch full time again until sometime IYH: Beware of The Dog.

Yeah, I may be the only one but I would've liked to see a mini Bob Backlund Vs Diesel feud before Diesel won the belt. I don't really mind Diesel beating Backlund in eight seconds but the fact that it was done with no buildup so soon after Diesel's face turn.

I've decided since I've got a couple minutes free, I'd do another one of these. Let's talk about Diesel's WWF World title run. I think no one will disagree with me in saying that it was one of if not the worst WWF World title run. I've seen people defend Russo-era WCW. I've witnessed people heap praise on XPW, and I've seen people vehemently support the idea of the Ultimate Warrior making a comeback run in the 'E. But I never have nor do I expect to ever meet anybody who thought Diesel's WWF World title run was anything more than medicore. That being said, who to blame for the shittiness of the run. I'm going to play a role I'm not sure I've ever played in this thread, that of the apologist. That's right, I'm going to defend the man the IWC loves to hate...Kevin Nash. Now to rip off ESPN Classic, here's 4 Reasons You Can't Blame Kevin Nash for the shittiness of his title run (I couldn't think of five...) 4. Lack of Quality Heels: cabbageboy (of all people) made a good point one time about how their was a decided lack of good heels in '95 WWF. All the top guys; Diesel, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, The Undertaker,etc... were babyfaces! That meant you had Sid tusselling with stiffs like Sid and King Mabel for most of his run. A nonsensical heel turn by Davey Boy Smith didn't really help matters. Guys like Owen Hart, Bob Backlund, and Yokozuna had been effective as main-event heels in the past but were too jobbed out by that point to pose much of a threat and were thus relegated to the tag team division mostly. Bam Bam Bigelow should have been a title threat but was nonsensically turned babyface after jobbing to Lawrence Taylor at WrestleMania XI. After those guys for heels, you're left with a parade of hasbeens, never weres, up and comers who weren't quite there yet. 3. Terrible opponents Again- you're only as good as your opponent, while Diesel could be carried to a good match by a great worker like Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart, he was hopelessly lost against guys like Sid, Mabel, and Davey Boy Smith. 2. They tried to turn him into Hulk Hogan Nash is probably at his best as a sneering badass enforcer. He also works well as a sarcastic, lovable jerk. He does not work well as a plain, white toast babyface and that's what he was for the vast majority of his run- right down to a feud that nobody cared about with Sid. 1. Almost everything that year was terrible in the WWF Yeah, we can all agree that Diesel's run was terrible but would another Bret Hart run with the title have drawn any better? Would hotshotting the belt onto Shawn Michaels have steered the ship? WWF was still shell-shocked from the steroid trial and while they boasted about a New Generation- the storylines and characters were woefully stuck in the past. Diesel may have been at the forefront of all the crap- but he isn't completely to blame for it. So apologists, Nash haters, and all in between, let's discuss the first World title run of everybody's favorite wrestler, Kevin Nash.

I'd strongly agree with that but at the same time, I'm not sure if any great babyface can work heel. You know what I would've liked to have seen? A heel Ultimate Warrior. I think he was a heel back in UWF with Sting as The Blade Runners but he was babyface for the whole time after that. Evil Warior would be a trainwreck I would have loved to watch.

I read something recently that said Nick Bockwinkel was actually considered for The Million Dollar Man character. It's hard to imagine anybody but DiBiase in the role but Bock probably was a good enough worker to pull it off. Oh and I just remembered that as a mark that Fit Finlay and Steven Regal bored the hell out of me and now they're two of my favorites. Go figure.

How the heck can Dusty Rhodes be a poor man's Hulk Hogan when he debuted almost a decade before him?

I remember a borderline **** match he had against a Rockers era Shawn Michaels. It's on one of the Coliseum Videos. It must have been taped in San Antonio because it was super competitive and IIRC Michaels may have even gotten a DQ or count out victory. I won't say DiBiase is one of the greats. But he was one of the pretty damn goods and he had one of the most beloved heel gimmicks (oxymoron?) in WWF history.

It sounds like he just wants to disassociate himself from the business. Given the shit he's gone through and all of his friends that have died, can't say I blame him. Really hope he isn't missing/dead though. To be honest, he was probably my 2nd favorite Radical behind Roots Genoa for the longest time.

Yeah, Regal came back to WCW in May or June of '99. He stayed until February '00 when he lost a "Loser Leaves Town" match against Duggan. He teamed with Dave Taylor and was pretty much JTTS material for the run. Though I remember an odd, brief threeway WCW Saturday Night exclusive feud between The Blue Bloods, Scott and Steve Armstrong, and "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan and Erik Watts.

Heh- that was one of those rare moments that I called bullshit on when I was a mark. Kidding aside- I'm sure S.D. Jones is hanging out with Joey Maggs, Rick McGraw, and Frankie Williams tonight in the great wrestling arena in the sky.

I saw it opening weekend. Thought the first two-thirds of the movie were pretty damn good but then it just kind of ended. I sort of expected that since there's really no good way to end a biopic of someone who is still alive and presumably isn't about to kick the bucket. There were definitely quite a few dark comic elements but I wouldn't classify it as a dark comedy.

I honestly can't remember who won (thought it's safe to assume it was me!), I was just amused that she picked to play as, who my brothers and I deemed, "the wrestling nerd". Another guy I thought sucked for the longest time and I'm still not sure why was Billy Kidman. I came around to him around after he left The Flock in '98 but I hated the guy for some reason as a dweeby babyface and in the Flock.