brothergeo

For the most part Memphis is just low-rent and so deeply southern-fried that it could only be tolerated in small doses. It was racial. Outside of Lawler the wrestling wasnt great. They had some of the stupidest, lamest gimmicks ever conceived and they had this horrible penchant for siphoning all the talent out of their heels so that they were all cookie-cutter bastard types that had to rely on cheating to win. The glass ceiling was built into their infrastructure. Memphis was either for washouts and local rednecks or for guys who were up and coming and would leave before they arrived because the conditions were so bad. Its sad to hear over and over that guys were just starving there. Yeah, but a lot of guys learned how to work, and personally I think Southern style rocks my socks. I guess it depends on your taste. What types of wrestling do you like? Well, my favorite territory of all time, if you want to call it that, is Jim Crockett Promotions from 85-88 so I share your love of southern-stylized work, its just that Memphis was really backwards and backwoods for the most part. They definitely had their moments tho, some great matches and angles...overall tho? Naw, not my shit. I knew before I got to it that dude was a Crockett fan, just like Ole they hated Memphis. I grew up on it and loved it but always wondered why the sheet readers I communicated with loved it and wanted tapes. I knew it felt very "regional" and "Southern." A lot of it was Lawler being a great salesman (egomaniac that he is) and Lance Russell's announcing. I was always dying for Crockett tapes back in the day but got them and overall like Cheap Trick...great stuff but only in a best of way...week to week, a bit dry for my taste...guess I prefer more entertainment than sports in my rasslin'...yet I never got into the WWF/E, ironic yes?

I grew up on Memphis and am more than somewhat partial but--and I know I'm going to open a can of worms with this one--the booking, in some ways was sophisticated. Bear with me here. They had feuds that weren't so cookie cutter Face v. Heel (most of the Lawler Dundee ones); the one where they sort of broke kayfabe and had Jimmy Valiant break character and pull a rib on Jimmy Hart during the localized promo shoots; ditto the quickie deal where Jimmy Valiant broke character when he got a chance to wrestle Bockwinkel for the title and was calm and focused. I could go on and on. Yea, they did some stupid shit but that was when their talent was dry and they were absolutely no good at creating new stars (nor did any of the top tier want them to). Lawler's ego is enormous (as is his talent). Jeff Jarrett's booking sure mirrors what he learned from Daddy. Starve the boys, get rich. I'm not condoning that. No promotion could have or maybe would have used Andy Kaufman in the proper way that Memphis did. And overall, Ole's way off base calling Memphis garbage wrestling. There's plenty of bad stretches in his booking career. peace

Any more juicy details from Observer/Meltzer on what went down?

True, true. I don't think anyone's suggesting Styles challenge him in the Octagon but my sense is he's more bark than bite and the fact is it's his political stroke more than anything that gives him his power. I'll repeat, JBL if you see Tracy Smothers, run run run. I always wanted to ask him what the weather was like up Undertaker's and Vince McMahon's ass. The only good thing about the JBL/Meanie incident was Smothers popping JBL in the face while Sandman was holding him from behind.

Here's something to ponder: Remember when JBL shot on Blue Meanie? Tracy Smothers on a small indie show (which was on the web), called out JBL and said he'd put up his house, his car and his dog to fight JBL. JBL even responded either on the wwe website or on an internal wwe audio interview where he said something to the effect that he didn't know what Tracy's problem was and he remembers him being in the wwe but doesn't recall his gimmick (which is carny for "it doesn't matter because I'm over and you're not.") Some wrestling journalists I respect a great deal even theorized that JBL could take Smothers (who has the reputation of being a badass street fighter). Well, point is: if Joey can knock down JBL, my sense is JBL better stay as far away from a fight with Smothers as possible.