Throwback Thursday: The Greatest WrestleMania Moment of All-Time

WrestleMania 12 will be remembered most for the Iron Man match between Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels, but my favorite moment will always be embedded in a midcard match between a returning superstar and a guy whose best days were ahead of him. Of course, if this match were booked just four years later, the results might have been inverted. However, bask now in the glory of the Ultimate Warrior no-selling the Pedigree. It. Is. GLORIOUS.

On Triple H, "Burials," and Necessary Evil

Pictured above: Bryan, Steph, and a necessary evil
Photo Credit: WWE.com

When I was younger, I believed in a lot of stupid things sight unseen, no questions asked. Granted, none of them were on the level of incredulity as "WWE had to replace the original Ultimate Warrior," but in various states of like or dislike, I allowed myself to believe things that may or may not have been true. For awhile, I swore that Triple H was this diabolical political machinist who held everyone down and made sure he was the only person on the show who mattered despite the fact that he wasn't nearly as organically popular as those who came before him.

In fairness to my younger self, some of those rumors could have rung true. I believed them so steadfastly, but I only had whispers, rumors, and gossip to go by. Without being backstage at a WWE show or in creative meetings, I had no idea what was true and what was manufactured story by people who also didn't like Triple H. I've read and heard quite a bit of apologia about WWE's in-storyline COO (I'm not sure if he shoot-holds that title or not; I also don't particularly care), and while I appreciate the gestures of wanting to couch criticism in truth, I still can't get over the tonality of some of the rhetoric. Mainly, I don' t particularly think Triple H deserves to be lauded, and attempting to be fair to the man, as a wrestling television character at least, does not mean that the person judging him needs to stay out of the negative.

Best Coast Bias: And Now, a WWE Network Production

The match was good, but the inherent symbolism was better
Photo credit: WWE.com

At the table, Road Dogg was telling Dad Jokes while begrudgingly putting over the young talent in the ring. The Usos who'd taken the belts from him the night previous and the Matadores who hoped to ascend to that place one day, and one day soon. Billy Gunn sat next to him, selling a faux bout of encephalitis, and in that moment there was no better reminder of the surety of time and change than this juxtaposition on display.

In 2014 on the WWE Network, the former Champion Outlaws may be of age, but there's nothing new about them anymore. Preserved in amber like a "My Love Is The Shh..." cassingle, long-time fans of the product look at the former King of the Ring and the former Intercontinental Champion as not entirely beloved relics of an age when there was glory to be found in being too young to know better. But those sort of days are over: nowadays, the tag teams look like each other as if to be Winklevii, flying around with topes and planchas that are just as big a jab in the mind's eye as sharing a table with Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton, or tiny bulls running around ringside more than willing to put their horns to your junk. Not that El Torito can be blamed, since Billy shoved him down first. When are people going to learn: you mess with the bull, you get the hurricanrana.

ANNOUNCING - The Wrestling Blog Retro Live Tweets: WrestleMania II

Come watch and tweet about the Lost WrestleMania with me!
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Mass, coordinated live tweeting of old wrestling events has become all the rage amongst the corner of the wrestling fan universe I inhabit. Those tweet-ups have been rallied around torrents from shady Russian hubs, bad rips on YouTube, or DVDs that may or may not be in everyone's possession. The WWE Network, however, has provided the best gift for dorks like you and I who gather around classic events to watch through a modern lens in its expansive video on demand library. The confluence of these events has led me to jump into the fray and announce that a week from tonight, I am going to experiment with my own mass live-tweet of a past event.

I am pleased to introduce The Wrestling Blog Retro Live Tweet Series, where I invite all of you readers and Twitter followers to join along with me as I watch a classic event and tweet my observations to the world. The first installment of this series will happen Wednesday, March 12 at 8 PM Eastern Standard Time. The event?

WrestleMania II

What I Learned from Starrcade '83

Piper and Valentine worked a modern match 30 years ago, and wrestlers of today can learn lessons from it.
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Starrcade '83 is widely regarded as the first ever attempt at nationally distributing a "super card" to an audience outside the territory the promotion was mainly housed within. While the show was not a pay-per-view as the wrestling world would know it from WrestleMania II through Elimination Chamber 2014, it was certainly the precursor in spirit and format to the supercards of the last major epoch in wrestling history. The grainy video quality, low tonality and matter-of-factness of Bob Caudle and Gordon Solie in the announce table, and builds of a good portion of the wrestlers showed the age of the event, but a lot of the meat of the program looked modern, especially in the ring.

If one went just by the match finishes, that statement would seem contrary. The highest impact move, by today's standards, that finished a match was Ric Flair flying off the top rope in the cage match to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship over Harley Race. Moves that finished matches included a knee drop from the top assisted by an arm-wringer, a superplex, and a double team military press-assisted splash. All of those moves are transitional today, especially in the hyperactive independent scene, where moves that wouldn't be introduced as match-enders in Japan for a few years at the time this Starrcade happened elicit only two counts.

Buff Bagwell, Male Gigolo?

What a headshot
Photo via Cowboys4Angels.com

Via SLAM! Sports

Buff Bagwell always said he was "the stuff" when he was an active wrestler. He had a sculpted physique, oozed what he thought was swag at least, and his most iconic pre-nWo tag team saw him with Scotty Riggs affect the wardrobe and mannerisms of male strippers at the very least. That art has now become possible foreshadowing for real life, as Bagwell has been linked to the male escort service, Cowboys4Angels, in the Atlanta area. He has a profile and everything on the service's site, and he even appeared on the Showtime documentary series Gigolos:

Your Midweek Links: Hijacking the ArRIVAL

Cena helped keep the unruly crowd under wraps
Photo Credit: WWE.com

It's hump day, so here are some links to get you through the rest of the week:

Wrestling Links:

- Wrasslin' Story Time: WWE doesn't hate you, but it doesn't mean they don't care [SB Nation]

- The Best and Worst of RAW: #HijackBestAndWorst [With Leather]

- The hypocrisy of #HijackRAW [Voices of Wrestling]

- Some genius made 35 black velvet paintings of wrestlers [Deadspin]

- The Best and Worst of NXT ArRIVAL [With Leather]

- NXT ArRIVAL [Kick-Out!! Wrestling]

- Seven Things: Stages of being a wrestling fan [Wrestling on Earth]

- WWE's indie logic: On the science of wrestling and the importance of character [False Underdog]

- Top ten worst pay-per-view posters [Wrestling on Earth]

- WWE main events that should've happened at WrestleMania [Camel Clutch Blog]

- NETWORKED [Pro Wrestling Update]

- The Best and Worst of Impact Wrestling: We Have Books on TV! [With Leather]

The Best Moves Ever: Glam Slam

Beth Phoenix recently had a child, and she's reaffirmed that she's trying to live life on the outside now. Still, her run in WWE was about as spiffy as a woman's could be, which isn't actually saying a whole lot. Still, before the Divas of Destruction were derailed, Phoenix was ever-cromulent in the ring, in part due to her finisher. The Glam Slam was more often than not a sight to behold, from arching the victim up as high as they could go through the seamless rollover into the gloriously triumphant pinning combination. The following video has 18 for your perusal. Enjoy!

Wrestling Six Packs: The Next Six Whom I'd Like to See Signed

Steen's done it all on the indies. He needs a shot in WWE.
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Drake Younger is headed to the Performance Center, another in a long line of indie standouts that WWE has signed and brought into its ranks. The company has mostly had success with these wrestlers, and Younger looks to be another one who will shine first in Florida and then nationally (that is, unless he comes in as a referee as is rumored). Of course, Younger will work a different style than what most fans of his from Combat Zone Wrestling or Pro Wrestling Guerrilla will recognize, a pitfall of going from the free-form indie circuit to the structured WWE. I know some of my peers would disagree with my desire to see as many great performers at least get a shot in WWE, but WWE's in ring style is awesome right now, and I like seeing the guys I love to watch in the ring get paid top dollar for their services. The next six pack doesn't necessarily list the next likeliest to get signed, but the next six that I would like to see get their runs through the WWE machine.

1. Kevin Steen

Steen has been there and done that in nearly every corner of the independent scene. About the only thing left for him to do is tour Japan or Mexico before getting a shot with WWE. I know why the big company might not want him; it judges books by their covers all the time. Steen's body type went out of style sometime around 1988 to Vince McMahon, but regardless of what the preconceived notions about what a WWE superstar should look like are, Steen transcends them. He is a master in the squared circle, able to work any style and capture any crowd within the palm of his hand. Steen not only is ready for his close-up, but he, more than any wrestler on the indies, would nail it.

A Week of The Network

It's been a rough first week for The Network

Last Monday, I ordered WWE Network. I didn't even sign up for the free week. I did the paid version right away. I was so excited to have every pay-per-view at my fingers, to watch pre-and-postgame shows, to have something to watch that was more than Food Network or background noise when nothing else was on. A week later, I still am excited to have it. I finished watching Starrcade '83 yesterday, and as I type these words right now, I have the first WrestleMania on my live stream. However, that first week hasn't been without headache.

As a Roku user, I experienced the hiccups that plagued the app through the early going. I couldn't load any of the video on demand content, and the live stream had several outages and changes between standard and high definition. The first apparent nadir took place during NXT ArRIVAL, when the stream ducked out for nearly everybody, causing most viewers to miss out on the beginning of the main event. However, rock bottom could be described as The Network's inability to work on X-Box.

Drake Younger Has Been Signed

The Ultraviolent Golden Boy is headed to Orlando
Photo Credit: Scott Finkelstein

Drake Younger, the man who conquered the death match scene and moved out to the West Coast in an attempt to make California his stomping grounds, has been signed to a WWE developmental contract. The news was broken last night by the All-Pro Wrestling Facebook page. Younger's final match for the seminal NorCal promotion will be against Adam Thornstowe for his Universal Championship. Younger wrestled for old stomping grounds Absolute Intense Wrestling and Combat Zone Wrestling recently as well against Michael Elgin and Danny Havoc respectively in matches that were said to have tones of finality to them. He will also appear one last time for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla at Mystery Vortex II on March 28.

YEAH, I'm Here to Show the World

Photo Credit: WWE.com

While Aaron Paul was at RAW last night to promote The Need for Speed, the reason why he was such a get in the first place was his turn as Jesse Pinkman on Breaking Bad. I know why he couldn't say his signature "bitch" on RAW (and I agree with it), but I wish he would have just shouted "YEAH! SCIENCE!" even if the opportunity didn't even come up. Wrestling needs a non-sequitur or two. And hey, Dolph Ziggler got to win. YEAH!

Instant Feedback: Stone Cold Daniel Bryan

Austin/McMahon for a new generation
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Daniel Bryan is presumably straight edge. He has hair upon hair upon even more hair. I bet his beard has a beard. He is technical prowess personified, and is a gnome in the land of giants. Cosmetically and technically, Bryan could not be any further from "Stone Cold" Steve Austin (an argument could be made that Austin himself was more gifted on the mat than WWE would ever let him show, but for all intents and purposes, Stunning Steve and Stone Cold might as well be two different people). But tonight, he became the spiritual successor to Austin, the antihero for a new generation. This role was one that fit him ever since Trips pedigreed him at SummerSlam, sure, but the autumn felt like a giant holding pattern, a rut for Bryan to go up against a proxy in Randy Orton who hadn't been as realized as even The Rock was when he was Austin's foil.

The Wrestling Blog's OFFICIAL Best in the World Rankings, March 3

YESSSSS TACOOOOOOO
Photo Credit: TH

Welcome to a feature I like to call "Best in the World" rankings. They're not traditional power rankings per se, but they're rankings to see who is really the best in the world, a term bandied about like it's bottled water or something else really common. They're rankings decided by me, and don't you dare call them arbitrary lest I smack the taste out of your mouth. Without further ado, here's this week's list:

1. Daniel Bryan (Last Week: 2) - The intestinal fortitude on Bryan is off the charts. Challenging Triple H to a match at WrestleMania? The man whose wife made Chris Jericho pick up dog poop, pulled out Booker T's mugshot, invaded Randy Orton's home, and beat up Sheamus with a lead pipe as part of his Mania mythos? Anyone with that much bravery deserves the top slot.

2. Cate Blanchett (Last Week: Not Ranked) - Her speech at the Oscars was spot on. Maybe Vince McMahon ought to listen to her when she says leading ladies can draw bank.

3. AJ Lee (Last Week: 3) - So your bodyguard fucks up and kicks you in the jaw at the pay-per-view and you gotta give the challenger a rematch the next night on RAW? Pfft, no challenge for AJ Lee.

On Cameron, Melina vs. Alicia Fox, and WWE's Divas

Maybe Alicia Fox was the best representation Cameron had
Photo Credit: WWE.com

Cameron appears not to be that good in the ring. One does not have to possess an acuity beyond plain sight to come to that conclusion. Her series so far against AJ Lee for the Divas Championship has shown she has a far to go before she can even reach a basic level of competency, which puts her on the same level as most women who have populated the main roster historically. WWE right now is flush with women who are good wrestlers though, so why would Cameron get the nod over someone like Nattie Neidhart, Summer Rae, Emma, or even Alicia Fox? The attachment to Naomi, who was originally to get the shot before she got her orbital bone cracked by Aksana.

Speaking of Fox, she's become somewhat of a punchline thanks to Cameron. When she was known as Ariane Andrew during the one-season revival of Tough Enough, she infamously claimed her favorite match of all-time was Fox against Melina. The answer made Steve Austin facepalm, and she became a meme within the wrestling world. Granted, as a longtime, hardcore wrestling fan, I can't fathom the idea of someone liking a standard issue WWE Divas match the best throughout the annals of the art's history. Conversely though, I do not have the same problem that Cameron does.

My race, gender, and sexual orientation have been well-represented throughout history. In fact, as a white, straight male, my demographic has pretty much DOMINATED the ranks of wrestlers, stars, and Champions.