So, question of the day, views on high flyers? And the high-flying style?

For me, I like high flyers provided they have a ground game too. I have zero interest in someone doing 1,953 moves in 3 minutes. If I wanted that, I'd watch gymnasts at the Olympics. If the high flyers are simply doing move after move, without psychology, it's not for me.

During the Federation Era, the high flyers for me were Randy Savage, Koko B. Ware, the Rockers, etc. Yet they had a ground game. It wasn't just about dazzling move after dazzling move. They could paint a believable picture and also mat-wrestle, brawl, etc. So it was more special when they did go to the air.

Sure, some high flyers did move aerial moves than others. Flyin' Brian Pillman no doubt did more flying moves per match than Koko B. Ware, Owen Hart and Randy Savage. But he still had that solid, believable ground style too.

I feel anyone, including myself, could learn a "dance routine". I believe even I, with training, could do some dazzling aerial moves constantly. But I certainly couldn't believably wrestle on the mat, tell a story, do the psychology stuff, etc. At the end of the day, I don't want to watch a psychology-less "dance routine", I want something that tells a story.

Giant Haystacks





I just watched this UK Short Battle Royale ... a rare treat this afternoon.






6 foot and 11 inches tall ... 685 pounds

WCW brought him in; but botched it.  At least they never tried to bring Big Daddy over.

Here's a bit of fun....

(apologies if I posted this here, before...)

ps Takano bulked up and moved into the Heavyweight ranks, in New Japan. Still did spectacular dropkicks and some other flying stuff.

Stamped was always a great territory for flyers, since Bruce Hart was on the smaller side, as were Owen and Bret. Stampede had the Harts, Dynamite Kid & Davey Boy Smith, the Cobra, Jushin Liger (under his real name, Keiichi Yamada), Hiroshi Hase (as part of the Viet Cong Express, with Fumihiro Niikura), Chris Benoit, Brian Pillman, the Cobra.

Takano was always billed as being from Uganda, but was born in Japan, of a Japanese mother and an African-American Marine, stationed in Japan. His father left the family behind and returned to the US and he was raised by his mother, a mixed race child in a society that did not welcome that (much like Aja Kong). He fell into wrestling and found his calling. His younger brother Shunjo also wrestled and they were a tag team in Super World of Sports, which had a co-promotion deal with the WWF, in the early 90s (there is a match between Takano and Bret Hart and one of him and Randy Savage, on Youtube, from SWS/WWF cards).

Good recap there!

I actually watched this PPV at the time with German commentary (DSF channel). It was the only way here in the UK. You see, the clowns at WCW obviously didn't care that, following Fall Brawl 1993, no WCW PPVs got videotape releases here in Britain. There were no channels showing it other than DSF. So my first experience of this was with German commentary (I watched it again years later when I imported a tape from a company advertising in PWI).

You would have thought Hogan and Butcher, being lifelong friends, could have had a better match. And Butcher was hardly PPV main event contention, was he? To think, a year earlier Ric Flair, an all-time great, challenged Vader for the world title.

The rest of the card was okay, and seeing an early Triple H match (I know he was called something else, was it Jean-Paul Levesque?) was intriguing. This PPV was like Christmas Day: okay in many ways, and there were some novelties, but forgettable once it was all over.

You guys know I'm a Hulkamaniac, you know he got me into US wrestling. But the more I think about his WCW tenure, the more I am irked at his selfishness. To win the WCW World Championship, hold it for 15 months - and then lose it via DQ when Jimmy Hart betrayed him is just lame. Very lame. Beating Vader in a strap match by dragging Ric Flair - not even in the match - was doubly lame. Makes no sense even within the wacky context of pro wrestling. What's next, Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens at WrestleMania, but Hogan enters and rolls up Rollins to win another world title?

In that match, either Hogan or Vader should have lost. Even within the wacky context of wrestling, there has to be logic. I mean, prior to that era, we saw guys sign for big matches at press conferences (e.g. Hogan and Warrior signing prior to WM VI). Within the context of a wrestling storyline, Hogan and Vader had signed for a strap match. The referee knew it. So how someone not even in the bout can be dragged around the ring to give Hogan a win, what a load of crap! And I say that as a Hogan fan.

Hogan was never selfless in WCW. I get that he brought a lot of mainstream interest to WCW when he signed. And it was right he had some wins. But could he have not put over Flair just once in 1994? I get that it probably made sense for him to beat Flair at Bash at the Beach 1994, and in the so-called career-ending match at Halloween Havoc 1994, but in between that, they battled at a Clash of the Champions event. Could Hogan have not taken a loss then?

Could he not have taken a loss to Vader at least once instead of the lame DQ finish at SuperBrawl V and the non-win at Uncensored 1995? And he couldn't even pin Vader, he could only beat him in a cage match at Bash at the Beach 1995 (I wonder, did Vader refuse to be pinned?).

Am I taking it too seriously? I don't think so. There has to be logic. When it's destroyed, as Hogan and Russo did in WCW, it is irksome. There was a certain logic to Hogan beating Yokozuna for the WWF World Championship title at WrestleMania IX. No, they hadn't signed a contract, but Fuji and Yokozuna had issued a challenge. The referee was willing. In a wacky kind of sense, it was logical. But dragging a non-participant around the ring in a strap match to 'defeat' your opponent is pathetic in retrospect.

Hogan just couldn't allow anyone any momentum. As a Hulkamaniac, I have to try to be impartial. I mean, that was a great win for Lex Luger on Nitro in 1997, when Luger made Hogan submit, winning the world title (he'd made Hogan submit twice previously, one of them at Bash at the Beach 1997). But, no, Luger couldn't have any momentum, Hogan 'had' to win the world title back a week later at Road Wild 1997.

He could and should have been a little more selfless. And he still could have had a long-term career despite losses. I don't need or desire my favourite wrestlers to be unbeatable. Jake Roberts is a favourite, but how many times did he get pinned? Barbarian and Warlord are two guys I loved, but their televised wins are few and far between. Hogan putting more people over in WCW, or being more of a sporadic "special attraction", would have been better for the promotion.

It was odd for me.

I first watched WCW in 1992 (I had seen some JCP/NWA cards prior to that). While WWF was about sports entertainment, and remembering that even WCW had some strange gimmicks, WCW was always the "wrestling" organisation for me. It had a certain gravitas. Sure, I tuned in to WWF to watch Nailz threaten Big Boss Man or Papa Shango put a curse on the Ultimate Warrior, but WCW was the place where I could watch a long match between Stunning Steve Austin and Barry Windham, or see a 30-minute iron man match.

So it was odd, even for this Hulkamaniac, to see Hogan in WCW.

And he was too invincible for too long. Nothing more boring than an unbeatable wrestler. Same with an unbeatable superhero who never loses. Did the Dungeon of Doom ever really get even a small victory against him? No. He pretty much repelled them for the entire feud from the Three Faces of Fear days to that silly Doomsday Cage match in 1996.

nWo Hogan could have really "passed the torch" to someone else, but any losses he encountered were soon "won back". It's pretty meaningless to have Lex Luger make him submit 3 times if Hogan is gonna be the victor at the end. Roddy Piper kicked his ass at Starrcade 1996 (non-title match), but Hogan got that win back two months later at SuperBrawl VII. No matter how much momentum a wrestler had against nWo Hogan, Hogan bounced back.

I think 1997-2000 should have been the era in which he should have began winding down to "special attraction status" - and thought about putting someone over properly. I am not saying have him lose in 6 minutes to Rey Mysterio Jr. But surely he could have "passed the torch" AND became a special attraction. Less would have been more with the Hulkster as time went on.

Jim Cornette, on his podcast, commented about the last two NWA Power shows. The one that followed his departure had always been planned as a "package" show, to set up the PPV. He said it was on his tv format, at the taping and the RNR Express match was always for Episode 9. The problem was the timing, as everyone just dumped on it, both for being boring and for no Cornette. Cornette asked that people not ignore the show because of his situation; if you enjoyed it continue to watch and support. He was fine with giving Dave Lagana grief, though. He did note that they thanked him in the final show and that the final scene, with him holding up the hands of the RNR Express, as new 9 time NWA World Tag Team Champions, was a fitting end to his tv career, if it is the end (and he says he isn't seeking to be on tv any longer and wasn't really when he agreed to do commentary).