Dave Meltzer

I ain’t been watching wrestling besides the clips on Twitter for a bit. But AEW would be hitting a mil under the old rules of tv wouldn’t they?

Thanks for sharing your perspective. I actually think Rose was at his best in the early 80's and it does seem I rate him higher than many. Which is funny because he was a guy I overlooked for a long time. Everything that is said about Stevens for the 60's I actually see in Rose. Good point on Flair. I have seen all of the Mid-Atlantic available and it's great stuff, especially the house show stuff. Flair & Steamboat were very different from 89, it wasn't this poetry in motion thing - it actually reminded me more of Flair vs Morton in 86 where it was a super heated mix of wrestling and brawling (brawling to mean punching and grittiness etc). I will say Flair is one that you prob need to live through in the 70's to fully know how he ranks, because I am looking at that as an early part of his career where he was still great but ultimately was still putting his whole package and style together. Those who lived through it had a different experience. So I did consider him, but it was really that 77-79 period and since I already have him #1 of 80's and of all time already, I saw it more as he was great but still developing. Similar to Steamboat. I'll admit Muraco is one guy that based on rep I know I should watch more of. I have seen a ton of everyone else but Muraco 70's I've seen a bit but not necessarily the footage where he would've demonstrated his best work. A lot of it was joined in progress or heavily edited, like stuff from Florida and much of it tags. I actually did think of Chavo, but I honestly feel he peaked in early 80's watching him now, though I know in real time in the 70's he would've stood out more. I've watched a lot of his California stuff and he does not do nearly as much as he was doing in, say, 82-83, but for the time it probably seemed that he was because it was no new and rare for that time period. I did also think of early 70's Stevens. He clearly was still very good and you can see hints of his 60's rep, but he did come across as someone that was not at his peak, at least to me. Still better than most though. I like that you mentioned the Lawler thing. The Memphis guys in general, Lawler included, are great in their context. But when almost any of them would go to Japan, they look so out of place and don't get over. That's why Lawler is hard to rank because he could go some places and would not look nearly as good or be nearly as effective, like not even in the league of say a Jumbo. Yet within the right place and time he is the level of anyone. Just not athletically. I've seen Dibiase in the 70's and I agree he was great, some of the St. Louis silent footage in particular sticks out. Ultimately, if i had a bias here it was underrating guys who peaked in the 80's. You mentioned Adonis, he is another guy who I think peaked early 80's, though I've seen him look great in the late 70's as well. Honestly one of the hardest comparisons for me is Jack Brisco vs Dory Jr. They are so close, are very different and it's really a flip of the coin. Ultimately i think I went with Jack because his style was a little more unique to him as a babyface whereas I see Dory similar to Harley in some ways, but with Harley just a tad better (which is also arguable).

And that’s where I feel weird watching the modern project. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it, but the wealth of dangerous moves makes me cringe. Wish they could wrestle with a little less “crash & burn.”

My top 10 in-ring wrestlers of the 70's list. 1.Terry Funk 2.Harley Race 3.Jack Brisco 4.Dory Funk Jr. 5.Jumbo Tsuruta 6.Dick Murdoch 7.Nick Bockwinkel 8.Buddy Rose 9.Jerry Lawler 10.Pat Patterson The top 5 are pretty locked in. 6-10 could fluctuate based on what day you ask me. Others that came to mind for me were Flair, Inoki, Wahoo and Steamboat. I looked at only the 70's and I actually thought several on my list were even better in the 80's (Murdoch, Jumbo, Lawler, Bockwinkel and Rose). I know some are going to think I overrated Rose.

I don't know how to answer that. What's an indie show and what isn't? Where do you draw the line? The further back in time you go, the harder it becomes to make the distinction.

Do you becky having a chance at getting put in the hall of fame

At least optically the numbers appear better making it harder for critics to attack. Keeps them at bay.

Gonna make a prediction. Dynamite will beat Smackdown in both total viewers and demo by EOY

He had a 7 year partnership with Warner Media. If you think that doesn’t come with pressure to make the business profitable, you’re insane.

Could you care telling us which matches you're talking about? Because Cagematch has 0 AEW and ROH matches for Colt Cabana registered during Summer 2023 and Collision Debuted on June 17th 2023.

How? He blundered through three programs where he buried everyone he worked with. He then fucked over Page, got injured, and Mox mercifully put a stop to it. Then Collision happened, and he was only main event in his own head, play acting with FTR and burying Jay White

Been a long time coming. He's insane

Did you just compare the revenue strength of a territory wrestling promotion with extremely low overhead costs to that of a national promotion merch revenue in a modern, hyper-connected world where they spend countless dollars on promotion? This is contextual assault.