WCW
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In 1997, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio Jr. Wrestled A Perfect Match
Mask vs. Title, Halloween Havoc 1997. Maybe you’ve heard of it?
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The Eternal Heartbreak of Hard Times
There’s probably nothing new that can be said about “Hard Times,” the 1985 Dusty Rhodes promo that defines its feud, its performer, and its time. It’s huge, y’all, so big that it has a name, which isn’t true of many promos. You say “Hard Times” to a wrestling fan and it evokes something: the image…
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The Spectacle of Bill Goldberg
It’s fall 1997, and while you don’t realize it at the time, you’re watching something special. It’s another episode of Monday Nitro—the Four Horsemen are falling apart, WCW is struggling to regroup in the face of the nWo, and Sting watches from the rafters while Hulk Hogan and Roddy Piper threaten everybody with a Halloween…
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On Johnny B. Badd, Wrestling’s Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman, who revolutionized American music and culture as Little Richard, passed away yesterday at the age of 87. I am nowhere near knowledgeable enough about the history of rock and roll to eulogize him, nor is that my function as a wrestling critic, but when someone of the stature and influence of Little…
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I Wish I Loved Any Wrestler the Way I Love Lex Luger
I should have known better. I should have known that ranking every member of the nWo would lead me down some dark paths, and here I am watching WCW Monday Nitro circa 1997, the wrestling I grew up on. Here’s what I know, deep in my bones: Rey Mysterio Jr. is incredible, watching Ric Flair…
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Macho Man Randy Savage: the King of Photographs
At this point, everybody knows the picture—”Macho Man” Randy Savage, clad almost entirely in denim, looking pensively into the distance while sitting on a rocky shore. It’s an indelible portrait of one of wrestling’s most beloved figures, something at once cartoonish and real, completely sincere and utterly ridiculous. It’s my favorite picture of a professional…
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Every Member of the nWo, Ranked
The new World order are going into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, and while the company is limiting the group to its three founding members, I’d like to believe that the lack of a physical building for the Hall of Fame means that there’s room for everybody. Can’t remember who was in the…
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In 1992, Jushin Liger and Brian Pillman Changed American Wrestling
I love Jushin Liger. I’m hardly alone in the sentiment, but I’m still avoiding Wrestle Kingdom because it hurts a little knowing that I’ll never see him wrestle again, and hurts even more knowing that I’ll never get to see him wrestle live. It’s a shame because I think Liger had a really good last…
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A Pilgrimage to Scott Steiner’s Shoney’s
You’ve got a 141 & 2/3 percent chance of gastric distress.