Mike Rickard
25 Random Wrestling Observations
By Mike "Mr. Old School" Rickard
Aug 3, 2009 - 8:00 AM

You ever have one of those nights where you lay in bed, thinking of the squared circle?  No.  Oh.  Well, imagine you do.  Here's some stuff that was running through my head:

1.   I won't watch a PPV that's already aired unless I haven't heard the match results or there's a must-see match on the show.   For instance, I couldn't watch Wrestlemania XXV due to the flu and I still haven't seen it.   However I want to watch it because of the Undertaker/Michaels match.

2.   There are a good number of guys who are as good (and a few even better) on the mic  as Ric Flair.   There are a good number of guys who are as good (and a few even better) in the ring as Ric Flair.   There are a good number of guys who are as good (and a few even better) drawing crowds as Ric Flair.   However there is no one who had the combined skills of Ric Flair on the mic, in the ring, and drawing crowds.   That is why Ric Flair is still the greatest overall wrestler of all time.   Someday, someone may eclipse him but that day hasn't arrived yet.

3.   While I appreciate the contributions of yesterday's women wrestlers like the Fabulous Moolah, I didn't give a dam about women's wrestling until Sunny entered the scene.

4,   TNA's Knockouts are the best part of the entire promotion.

5.   Bret Hart is a whiner.   As good as his autobiography is (and I'd rate it in the top three of all time), it just proves that he's his biggest fan.  

6.   Owen Hart would have been a world champion had he lived.   I'll even go so far as to say that he probably would have been more than a transitional champion as well.

7.   I still mark out when I hear Real American.

8.   ECW saved the wrestling industry.   Without Paul Heyman's vision to guide them, Vince McMahon and Eric Bischoff would not have known to bring the WWF and WCW out of the dumpster.  

9.   If a guy gets hit on the head with a sledgehammer, he shouldn't kick out or show up on TV for the next month.

10.   I think the six sided ring is a cool idea and is one of the few things that distinguish TNA from the WWE.

11.   Mae Young giving birth to a hand is still the most memorable moment of Mark Henry's wrestling career.

12.   I'm still surprised the WWE hasn't hired Trevor Moore to fill in for Edge during his recurring injuries.

13.   Only Shawn Michaels could get away with wearing the outfits he wore during the 1990's.

14.   I miss wrestling shows being taped in TV studios .  

15.   I don't miss hour long broadways.   Just as wrestling stopped having three (or more) hour matches, it was time to drop hour long matches (with occasional exceptions).   This goes double when the matches feature putting people through tables as a transition move.   It kills my suspension of disbelief and actually gets boring.

16.   Gorilla Monsoon was an average (at best) announcer until he teamed up with Bobby Heenan and Jesse "The Body" Ventura.  

17.   As much as some "experts" would like you to think otherwise, Vince McMahon is a proven ratings draw.   Yes, Vince equals ratings (much like R.D. Lee).

18.   Just because you haven't been in a ring doesn't mean you're unqualified to write or discuss wrestling.

19.   That being said, not only have I been in the ring but I was in the ring with A.J. Styles!

20.   The Hell in the Cell match is this generation's equivalent of the steel cage match.

21.   Wrestling was extreme long before Extreme Championship Wrestling.

22.   Wrestling has (and has had) very few great announcers and not even many good ones.   That is why guys like Michael Cole can still phone it in and collect a paycheck.

23.   I miss the days when fans were happier watching the matches than showing off their signs.

24.   The Internet is one of the best things that ever happened to wrestling fandom.

25.   Mike Tenay looks like a serial killer (and that tuxedo isn't helping him any).

Don't forget to join me tonight for Monday Night RAW as I provide real-time coverage of the show!

  Mike Rickard is the author of the new book, Wrestling's Greatest Moments which captures the best in wrestling from the last thirty years.   Wrestling’s Greatest Moments brings you all the most memorable and controversial moments from modern wrestling history. It’s an insightful and essential compendium of thirty years’ worth of groundbreaking matches, angles and interviews. From Hulkamania to the Montreal “screwjob,” from the NWA to the nWo, you’ll rediscover what really occurred in arenas and on the air worldwide, and learn all the backstage and behind-the-scenes secrets that made these highlight-reel moments possible from the men and women who were there.