Who do you prefer: Hulk Hogan or Ric Flair

HULK HOGAN

"NATURE BOY" RIC FLAIR

I want to start this off with two of the greatest wrestlers in the last 40 years or so. Hulk Hogan being the top face for WWE during the 80's/early 90's. Ric Flair being the top heel during the 80's and well into the 90's....mostly for the NWA/JCP/WCW.

Which of these wrestlers are/were you more fond of? Why? Fond memories?

As usual, add your comments below.

Roman Reigns: The Failed Experiment

I know I'm about to repeat what's been stated countless times before. I realize it's repetitive at this point, so I'll try to get to the point as quickly as I can.

For the last few years, WWE has been trying hard to push Roman Reigns as a face. Try as they may, fans have either grown to love him or they hate him with a passion. My perspective, the haters seem to out number the fans. The more I've seen Reigns, the harder it is for me to watch him.

Personally, I don't think this is Roman's fault. I don't want to take anything away from him. He busts his ass night in & night out. Unfortunately, busting your ass simply isn't always going to be good enough. Whether or not you want to talk about basketball, music, Television, the Big Screen or daily life of the average person, hard work simply isn't enough.

Some people, regardless of the industry they're in, always find ways of skating through. Some people manage to succeed because of politics. Some people can actually work hard and succeed at it. Wrestling is the same thing. There are times where busting your hump isn't enough.

For Roman, I don't have any doubts that he's working hard. You don't make it into a company like WWE if you are a lazy jerk. I suspect the problem lays elsewhere. This could probably be debated for years to come. Since I'm only looking at the problem from a fans' perspective, all I can give is a fans' perspective.

Based purely off my own vantage point, part of the problem is WWE trying to hard to make Roman the face of the company. It appears as though John Cena's time at the top has finally come to an end, for one reason or another, WWE wants Roman to be "the guy". This could be a simple case of trying too hard. How often does this happen in life where people try too hard to be well-liked by others, only ending up pissing everyone off in the process?

Happens far more then any of us could comprehend. I'd bet my bottom dollar this is one of the main problems with Roman, right now. WWE is just too desperate to make Roman so well loved by the fans, many fans have automatically rejected him. Same problem Cena had for many years. WWE tried too hard to get fans to love him.

With all the access fans have to wrestling, this sort of tactic doesn't work like it did 30-40 years ago. Back then, you could push wrestlers to the moon and get away with it because you didn't get to see them every week. If we did see certain wrestlers more often, there was only so much time on TV they could get as promoters needed to make every minute count.

There was no YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, or other forms of social media to interact with wrestlers or watch them on.

Over-saturation is another problem for Roman. Tied in with WWE's efforts to get the fans to love Roman, fans are naturally going to boo him.

Here comes the problem. Fans want to boo him, regardless of what WWE wants them to do. Typically, this would be a chance to make a heel turn. Considering the investment WWE has in making Roman the top good guy, I don't imagine that happening anytime in the foreseeable future. Yet, this would be a great chance to do it.

WWE could still push Roman as a top tier wrestler. He'd easily be the top heel, automatically. Fans would easily want to see Roman's teeth kicked in on a nightly basis. There's only a few people that fans would readily accept as top faces. Because of this, Roman would easily viewed as a top ass kicker. Anyone that would take him on would automatically be cheered like the Second Coming of Christ....in a manner of speaking.

A simple heal turn would be a wise decision, in my humble opinion. I realize that the odds of this happening are pretty slim. I realize that WWE wants Roman as their top face, regardless of what I think. I'm fine with that.

If WWE wants to keep Roman as their top face, that's their choice. I doubt I'll ever agree with their choices 100%. Then, that's the nature of the beast.

Poll: Harlem Heat vs. Dudley Boyz

This is a bit of an experiment I'm trying, mostly for the hell of it. If it works, I'll do this on a regular basis. If not, I'll give it up. I apologize in advance that I don't have a poll embedded on the page itself. I haven't figured out how to do that on a free polling site, as of yet. Please be patient with me on this.

Anyway, I wanted to see what everyone thought of a fantasy match between Harlem Heat & the Dudley Boyz. Harlem Heat was easily the most successful tag team in WCW. The Dudley Boyz dominated ECW's tag team division during their tenure.

Who would win in a match like this? Voting takes place HERE for those interested in participating. Polling ends on Saturday at Midnight.

Feel free to comment below.

Thanks for your patience and participation.

Haystacks Calhoun and the McGuire Twins

Would you believe the McGuire Twins were the heaviest tag team in history? According to Wikipedia, their combined weight was 1,468 pounds. Haystacks was 663 pounds.

Think about it for a moment.

That's in excess of a freakin' ton!

When you hear announcers/commentators say that the ring had to be specially reinforced for a match, you'd better believe it had to be done in this match.

Anyone know what a small car weighs? I think the trio may've weighed as much as a small car.

Andre the Giant and Ric Flair

Talk about a once in a lifetime pairing. I can't imagine these two getting together in the ring, as a team or as rivals often. Obviously, they were together at least once.

Record setting wrestlers

Super Bowl 51 is in the record books. Tom Brady has set a record for having the most Super Bowl Championships as a quarterback. To my knowledge, not too many quarterbacks come close to this record, though I could easily be wrong.

This has me thinking. In pro wrestling, who would be considered the most successful wrestler(s)? There are a lot of people that could fall under this category.

Hulk Hogan

6x WWE Champion

6x WCW Champion

1x WWE Tag Team Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

Beaten the likes of Randy Savage, Andre the Giant, Ric Flair, Roddy Piper, Paul Orndorff, and many others. His first few title reigns lasted 1 year, or longer. If I'm not mistaken, his first reign went three years.

Considering Hogan was a box office draw for a better part of a decade, just in WWE, I'd say he's a record setter.

Ric Flair

If you listen to WWE, The Nature Boy is a 16x World Champion. Unofficially, he's at 21 World Title Reigns.

9x NWA World Champion

8x WCW World Champion

2x WCW International World Champion

2x WWE World Champion

This is only his recognized world title reigns. This doesn't include other major title reigns.

2x NWA Television Champion

6x NWA/WCW United States Champion

3x NWA World Tag Team Champion

1x WWE Intercontinental Champion

3x World Tag Team Champion

If my math is right, this is 36 major championships. This doesn't include territorial titles, like the Mid-Atlantic titles he held.

Considering how many big name matches he's been in over the years, Flair has a reputation that can't be beat anytime soon.

John Cena

13x WWE Champion

3x World Heavyweight Champion

2x World Tag Team Champion

5x WWE United States Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

Twenty three title reigns in the course of his roughly 14-year stay in WWE. Depending on how healthy he remains and how long he chooses to keep his career going, Cena can easily add to these numbers.

Probably the biggest name in the company during the last seven years. Cena is a cash cow that I haven't seen in a long time. This goes back to the Attitude Era, at the very least, when we had several wrestlers that were bringing in ratings, buy rates, merch sales, etc. His success could even rival (potentially) the success Hogan had during his heyday.

Cena is easily "da man" currently. That isn't going to change anytime soon, unless something drastic changes. With his reputation for hardwork & giving to charity, John Cena could easily be viewed as one of the most successful wrestlers yet.

Triple H

For the sake of not repeating old arguments, I’ll avoid the standard pissing and moaning about The Game. Triple H is another one of the more successful performers in wrestling.

9x WWE Champion

5x World Heavyweight Champion

5x Intercontinental Champion

2x European Champion

3x WWE Tag Team Champion

1997 KOTR Champion

2x Royal Rumble Winner

There aren’t many titles Triple H hasn’t won. Easily one of the most dominant performers during the last 20+ years. If it wasn’t for the Curtain Call incident, I have to wonder what else Triple H could have done.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

Another legend from an era where you could work for at least two international promotions. Austin made his success like many other performers at the time. When opportunities dried up at one promotion, he went elsewhere. Best known for being the bird flipping, foul mouthed, beer drinking SOB, Steve Austin has done just about everything one individual can possibly do.

6x WWE Champion

2x WWF Intercontinental Champion

4x WWF Tag Team Champion

2x WCW United States Champion

2x WCW Television Champion

1x WCW Tag Team Champion

1x NWA Tag Team Champion

1996 KOTR Champion

3x Royal Rumble Winner

One of the few people in the business that could make a reputation for being anti-establishment, fighting with the boss. I can probably count on one hand the number of people who’ve successfully pulled this off.

The Rock

While many wrestlers have had roles on the big & small screen, Dwayne Johnson has easily been the only one that’s had such a great transition into acting. I know, Hogan did a lot of acting, as have many others. None of the wrestlers you can name have went on to the success The Rock has had with acting.

His in-ring success is just as impressive. One of the rare people in his generation to make his success in on company.

8x WWE Champion

2x WCW Champion

2x WWE Intercontinental Champion

5x WWE Tag Team Champion

Rock had “it” where it counted the most: charisma, actual speaking ability, and looks. You can say the same crap over and over again and somehow make it seem cool if you have charisma. Having actual speaking ability is a whole new subject. If you can say a variety of different things and still make it seem cool, that’s real talent. If you’ve got a certain look, that can be highly useful.

Sure, having great looks, in and of itself, doesn’t do much. If you have talent or speaking ability, having a certain look will certainly help. Take a look at guys like Arn Anderson, back in the day. If he had to rely purely on looks, he wouldn’t of succeeded as much as he did. Since he had in-ring talent and speaking ability, fans were able to accept him as a working class wrestler….someone you’d see as a neighbor, if you’re neighborhood involved mechanics, construction workers, and whatnot.

Rock had the look of a real superstar, someone that was going places. With the right combination of talents, it was only a matter of time before he was going to see success outside of WWE.

Sting

The painted one has enjoyed a highly successful career, as well. Damn near everywhere Sting has gone, he’s enjoyed some level of championship glory.

2x NWA World Champion

2x WCW International World Champion

6x WCW World Champion

4x TNA World Champion

2x WCW United States Champion

1x NWA Television Champion

3x WCW World Tag Team Champion

1x TNA Tag Team Champion

There’s been a bunch of other minor glories, winning a variety of tournaments and whatnot. Sting’s one of those guys that isn’t known for being highly talented, per se, but can somehow be worked with. The right look, the right character, a certain level of speaking skills, and the ability for fans to identify with him….Sting’s been able to make a great career for himself in wrestling.

Bret Hart

The Best There Is. The Best There Was. The Best There Ever Will Be. Bret “Hit Man” Hart has made a hell of a career as a wrestler. The accolades are highly impressive, IMO.

5x WWE Champion

2x WWE Intercontinental Champion

1x WWE United States Champion

2x WWE Tag Team Champion

2x WCW Champion

4x WCW United States Champion

1x WCW Tag Team Champion

KOTR Champion-1991 & 1993

Royal Rumble Co-Winner w/Lex Luger-1994

There have been many great matches & feuds over the years, including those with Jerry Lawler, Owen Hart, Shawn Michaels, and so many others. If it weren’t for some health issues, including a mule kick to his head by Goldberg, as well as a stroke (if I remember correctly), Bret could’ve ended his career on a far better note….potentially.

I know there’s a laundry list of people that could be counted on this list. HBK has won it all. Scott Hall’s had an impressive streak, himself, as has Kevin Nash. It could be argued that Lex Luger could be mentioned somewhere along the lines.

There are plenty of who could be the “Tom Brady” of wrestling. In wrestling, it’s hard to accurately determine what true success is. It’s not like the “legit” sports in many areas. You don’t “legit” win championships like you would in a sports game. If an injury happens to one member of a team, someone else can fill your spot until you come back. The team can keep moving forward. A wrestler gets an injury and their momentum stops.

Who’s truly the most successful in wrestling? Beats me.

Andre & Flair

Anyone ever imagine seeing these two together as a team? I never imagined it.

Andre & Ric Flair

This had to be one hell of a team.

Spotlight Andre the Giant

The following is not a full biography.

Aliases:
André Roussimoff
André the Giant
Géant Ferré
Giant Machine
Jean Ferré
Monster Eiffel Tower
Monster Roussimoff
André the Ultimate Giant

Nicknames:
The Boss
The Wildcat
The Eighth Wonder of the World

Hometown:
Billed from Grenoble in the French Alps

Trained by:
Frank Valois

Billed Height:
7' 5"

Billed Weight:
550 lbs.

Finishing Moves:
Elbow drop
Sitdown Splash
Double underhook suplex

Signature Moves:
Bear hug
Big boot
Bodyslam
Chokehold
Double choke
Forehand chop
Headbutt
Multiple turnbuckle thrusts
Standing on a fallen or cornered opponent
Walking on a fallen opponent

Managers:
Lou Albano
Bobby Heenan
Ted DiBiase
Arnold Skaaland
Frank Valois
K. Y. Wakamatsu

Championships:
WWF Tag Team Titles
WWF Heavyweight Title

Notable feuds:
Hulk Hogan
Ultimate Warrior
Jake Roberts
Killer Khan
Big John Studd
King Kong Bundy
Demolition
Randy Savage
Ernie Ladd
Blackjack Mulligan
Bobby Heenan
Ken Patera

The 4x4s

the good, the bad, and the ugly

Gimmicks. Wrestling has been full of them decades. Gimmicks are truly a necessary evil. It may not always seem like it, but everything we see is a gimmick, to one degree or another. Referees, for example, are one such point. Can't have a match if we didn't have someone "officiating" the matches. The matches alone are a gimmick, considering they have winners and losers determined in advance. Don't forget the matches can even have different rules, depending on what a promoter wants to accomplish for a particular match. The commentators? Someone needs to sell the storylines/angles to the fans watching on TV.

The wrestlers themselves are obvious, as are most of the stuff you'll see.

With that said, most fans will admit that there are great gimmicks. Some, not so much. Then, there are those that are downright ugly. Let's see how many I can cover before going batshit crazy.

Considering I've been watching religiously since the late 80's (casually since '83-'84), I've seen my share of gimmicks that truly qualify as good, bad, and downright nasty. I'll try to be as fair as possible, considering different factors. As an example, I'm not going to complain about the Iron Sheik as his character/gimmick was par for the course, at that time. Same could be said for Sgt. Slaughter, for similar reasons.

Some gimmicks are never appropriate ever, no matter what. Jeep Swenson, being billed as the Final Solution, should be a great example of this point. I know I used to sleep during History class, but I have to think the creative team in WCW must've skipped their history classes outright. I still managed to get high marks in History, despite my frequent naps.

I'm debating on the Katie Vick angle, as that's more of a bad storyline as opposed to an actual gimmick. Maybe I'll just include anything that's good, bad, or ugly. If I include storylines, then this is also a prime example of something that never should've left the drawing boards. Why it was even contemplated is completely beyond me.

While we get ideas that are pure ugly, we still manage to get ideas that scream "what were they thinking?" Gobbeldy Gooker is one such idea. It was hyped for several weeks, leading to the 1990 Survivor Series. This is probably better remembered for the debut of the Undertaker.

Speaking of Undertaker, that's one idea that must've looked horrible on paper. After all, we're talking about an undead zombie character that couldn't feel pain. We're talking about a character that debuted roughly two decades before the Walking Dead debuted on TV.

I realize zombie-esque characters have been huge in TV and movies for a long time. Not entirely sure when this concept first began. Yet, having a character like that in wrestling could've made things a bit difficult, to say the least. After all, when you look at a wrestler that can't feel pain, you can't make him submit. Can't beat him in a match if you can't make him tap out.

When a wrestler can't feel pain, it's hard to slow him down, let alone get him on his back. Pinfalls would be difficult, to put it nicely. When you get a match like a Last Man Standing match, how do you stop someone that can't be put down for more then a couple seconds?

Yet, Undertaker's character not only caught on, but remained popular for over 26 years. Amazing, to put it mildly.

Then we have characters like Doink.  Decades before the creepy clown phase we've been going through, we had Doink the Clown. I'd like to think we got rid of the creepy clowns, but most of them are still in DC.

On a serious point, Doink started off as a heel that loved pulling pranks on fans and wrestlers. You'd think this would've become annoying shit. Yet, as a heel, Doink was actually pretty damned entertaining. As a face, not so much. As a heel, definitely entertaining. Then, to be honest, heels typically represent certain aspects of human society we don't always want to admit to. This includes being an egotistical prick that can't do anything wrong (Mr. Perfect), that rich asshole that can buy whatever he pleases (Million Dollar Man), the jerk that plays pranks on people who are otherwise too nice (Doink).

Knowing how people generally behave, it should be no surprise that a heel Doink succeeded at all. As a real life example, my brother was at his church on a Saturday. It was during the late morning/early afternoon. He had promised he'd help with some minor stuff, mostly light cleaning. The head pastor had stepped out when my brother showed up. Left the door unlocked so bro wouldn't have to wait for the pastor to arrive.

When the pastor arrived, he could easily spot bro's vehicle in the parking lot. Didn't think much of anything for 10-20 minutes. After awhile, he realized that he didn't see or hear bro. Something seemed odd, so the pastor looked around the church to see if he could find my bro.

Long story short, the pastor entered a room, only to have my brother bark at him like a dog. Bro was crouched in such a position that he couldn't be spotted until it was too late. Bro nearly took a foot to the face, do to the panic he caused with his pastor, but it was worth it. The pastor didn't live this down for a couple of months.

It's really the idea that stuff like this, as funny as it may be to certain people, is easily relatable.  It's not much different then a bunch of teenagers at a different church bro had been a part of, previously. They ended up in a snowball fight that ended up in the church itself, briefly. A snowball ended up wizzing past the head of a woman, scarring her to the point she had to go home and freshen up, to put it nicely.

While most of the adults were fuming over this, when my brother found out about it, he was laughing to the point he nearly went home to freshen up.

Maybe it's stuff like this that allows people to enjoy goofy and/or unusual characters. Much like having a darker personality that allows us to appreciate dark characters. When we see characters like Eugene, a "mentally challenged" wrestler, fans typically want to cheer on the underdog. Well.....I'd certainly say a "mentally challenged" wrestler would be a major underdog.

Sure, Eugene was meant as comic relief, but he was certainly an underdog. People love to see others succeed when they would normally fail, otherwise. Doesn't matter if it's in a movie, TV, real life or what not.

In this regards, Eugene had a benefit. He was good in the sense that people wanted to see him overcome the odds. Granted, the guy that played the part (Nick Dinsmore) was a highly competent performer. That certainly made the character more entertaining.

It can be amazing just what characters will become popular while others fail. Since it's getting late, I'm calling it a night. More on this later.

thoughts on current WWE product

Over the last couple of years, I've been making an attempt to get back into wrestling. Since I don't have access to TNA on TV anymore, I'm going to limit myself to WWE at the moment. When I  get the odd indy show coming to town, I'll make sure to be excited about that.

Until then, here's how I'm feeling about a variety of topics.

The New Day:
I've generally become bored of the trio, as of late. Nothing against them. The group has made me give a shit about Big E. Xavier & Kofi can usually have good matches, as far as I'm concerned. Where I'm having problems is that their routine has become stale. It's the same stuff day in and day out.

Not really keen on their bumpin' & grindin' when they mention that they're WWE World Tag Team Champions. When Xavier states that, it's really the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard for me.

Plus, no matter how many "threats" come their way, New Day keeps coming back time after time. It's as though they've become the John Cena of the tag team division. Every team they've faced, as of late, inevitably turns into a joke. Hopefully now with Gallows & Anderson taking them on, that will change.

I understand WWE is building up New Days' record breaking title reign. I just ask they make some of the opponents a bit more threatening to the group.

I'm still trying to figure out the bit with the unicorn horns. Damned things look like dildos. Seriously, whenever I see New Day wearing the unicorn horns, it looks more like dildos then horns.

KEVIN OWENS:
I have to admit that I'm happy about WWE putting the Universal Title on Owens. I was surprised that he became the champion as I was expecting it to go on Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns, the latter I'll discuss later. Putting the strap on Owens was inevitable. It was simply a matter of time before he'd get a main event title (WWE or Universal titles).

How long this reign lasts will depend on a few key factors, usually the obvious points like merch sales, TV ratings and whatnot. With football season upon us, the ratings are going to take a hit for awhile. Hope this doesn't get WWE to cut Owens' reign short.

Then again, I can't imagine WWE cutting his reign short quite yet. It would make his build up a huge waste of time.

RANDOM THOUGHTS:
A recent trend I've been noticing is that WWE is bringing up a wrestlers success from outside WWE, as of late. Currently, it's small tidbits here and there, usually whenever someone is coming onto the main roster. I noticed it with Styles, Anderson & Gallows originally with their time in Japan.

I can't recall, off-hand, the other wrestlers they've done this for. It's usually quick little bits of information, usually involving the Indies that are no threat to WWE. Perhaps this trend will continue. After all, most wrestling fans are capable of looking this information up anyway.

Bo Dallas has gotten a few tweaks to his character, lately. Since I don't watch WWE every week, I mainly noticed this after he got into shit a few weeks back while drunk. Bo's showing a more aggressive streak. The goofiness he had previously was holding him back. Perhaps this new mean streak will mean a serious push for Bo.

Nice to have a cruiserweight division again. If this goes well, perhaps WWE will expand on it by adding a cruiserweight division for Smackdown. Depending on this works out, a separate 1-hour show on the Network could be an option.

We'll see.

While we're on the topic of divisions, it's about time WWE is taking the tag team division seriously again. They've been building on their tag team ranks quite a bit over the last several months. I'd have to go back several years to remember the last time WWE had such a healthy tag team roster.

The women's division is easily at it's best, right now. I'd have to go back to my childhood when I can remember women wrestlers being treated as serious competitors. Even then, I don't recall the women's division getting as much attention as it is now. When you have women like Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and so many others kicking ass, I can't help but feel happy.

Finally rid of the "divas" who have to win ridiculous contests, just to  get a contract and have sloppy matches. While I'm at it, I don't miss the "She-Ra Princess of Power" Belt. Seriously, that thing was atrocious.

Nice change having jobbers brought back to WWE. It was stupid to have your main roster battle it out week in & week out, making one guy look great at the expense of another performer. You need to make a wrestler look good? Don't do it at the expense of someone else's push.  Makes all their past accomplishments meaningless if they've been turned into over glorified curtain jerkers.

Couple weeks back, the Usos had a much needed heel turn. About damned time, I must say. They had been stale for a long time, through no fault of their own. If we could only get a heel turn with John Cena, I would have an easier time watching his matches again.

WWE seems to have realized that fans just weren't that interested in Roman Reigns. As of late, he's been depushed. Granted, he's being used more in a midcard/upper midcard capacity, but his push has been lessened. Nothing against the man, but WWE was trying too damned hard to push him down everyone's throats. One way or another, they were determined to get people behind him.

Maybe by taking it slower, WWE will have a better job getting fans behind Reigns. Maybe his feud with Rusev will also help build Rusev's character, which I wouldn't mind seeing.

The two bright spots for me, as of late, are AJ Styles and Miz. Miz has been more entertaining, as of late, then he's been previously. I think this started around the time Maryse first returned. Unfortunately, it didn't do Zach Ryder any favors. At least Ryder's managing to recover from that by teaming with Mojo Rawley, but I digress.

Miz has been nailing it out of the park, as of late. I'm of the opinion that once he had the worked shoot with Daniel Bryan, a few weeks back, Miz has truly found his niche. I want this to continue. The Intercontinental Championship hasn't looked this important in a long time. With Miz as champion, it may be awhile before we see him drop the belt.

I would like nothing better then Miz breaking Honky Tonk Man's record. I feel it could be truly epic, if WWE tried this.

Final thought for the day is AJ Styles as WWE Champion. That's something I never thought was possible until recently. Even when he finally joined WWE, I didn't want to get hopes up too high. Surprisingly, WWE had AJ win the title after a short time in the company.

He hasn't even been with WWE a full year and he's already the WWE Champion. That's not too shabby for a guy that started off with a few appearances in WCW, early on. Perhaps this is WWE's way of saying AJ's proven himself. I hope so. I want to see him go far in WWE.

That's all for me for right now. Please feel free to leave your comments.