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REMEMBERING GARY HART

I was sorry to hear about the death of Gary Hart. He was one of the leading managers of the day at the Big Time Wrestling cards that were staged at the air conditioned Cobo Arena in downtown Detroit. He managed the Student who later went on the more fame in the WWE or WWF, if you prefer, as one of hairiest wrestlers of his day. Along with the Original Sheik, Bobo Brazil, Ernie Ladd, and Haystacks Calhoun, Hart was a favorite wrestling character of my youth.

Henry Schaller
Muskegon, Mich.
PWTorch VIP member

RIC FLAIR RETIREMENT IDEAS

I have been reading quite a few articles lately about Ric Flair's retirement both here and a few other places. Probably the best one was a guest editorial on the PWTorch.com dated Febuary 22. My own scenario would be to place both Flair and Shawn Michaels in the MITB match. Have Flair win by low blowing Shawn off the ladder (dirtiest player in the game). Then have him come out during the Edge-Taker match right after Taker gives Edge the Tombstone. It would get Edge DQ'd and keep Taker's streak alive. Have some friends ( Arn Anderson, Barry Windam, even Shawn) take care of Edge's goons and pinning Edge for the belt.

Bob Grau
Charlotte N.C.

TOP TEN TAG TEAMS

Since WWE included tag teams that never wrestled for them as a tag team, for my list I am going to stick with that them and give my Top 10 tag teams from U.S. wrestling companies that WWE owns.

Here is my Top 10 Tag Teams List:

Honorable Mention: The British Bulldogs, The Hart Foundation, The Wild Samoans, Demolition, The Hardy Boyz, New Age Outlaws, The Dream Team, Strike Force, APA, The Minnesota Wrecking Crew (The Andersons).

No. 10: Edge & Christian
No. 9: Harlem Heat
No. 8: Rock & Roll Express
No. 7: The Midnight Express
No. 6: The Rockers
No. 5: The Brain Busters
No. 4: The Nasty Boys
No. 3: The Dudley Boyz
No. 2: The Steiner Brothers
No. 1: The Road Warriors

Suzanne Abshire

WK: I'm surprised at people's positive memories of The Nasty Boys and their placement of them in any top ten list. No offense to them, as they were valuable role players at times in their careers, but I always saw them as being mostly overpushed, not particularly athletic, and a source of grating, overbearing promos. The fact that they had friends in high places to help them get pushed long past them caring about having decent matches didn't help my opinion of them, either. I remain shocked they had as many money-earning years as they did, as I remember them as jobbers back in their rookie AWA days.

TNA IMPACT THOUGHTS

TNA has put together a pretty long string of entertaining shows lately and Thursday's show continued that. The women's division in TNA continues to grow and it's been their strongest part of Impact in my opinion. Kong and her handler Saeed are very intriguing and the physicality that Saeed showed Thursday now adds another cog in the wheel. Now we can see Saeed in an angle with Gail Kim or ODB and in one fell swoop, TNA added another layer in their already talented women's division. One thing I can say is that I'm into the Knockouts a lot more than the WWE Divas right now that's for sure.

Joe's promo was spot on. I like it when a guy comes out, says what he has to say and then goes and does it without a lot of run in's or interference. Joe is a good talker and what he said made sense and for one of the few times in TNA, I actually listened to what a guy said and thought about it. Good interview. Angle/Kaz was very good. It got Angle's desire to retain the title at any cost and Karen coming out... well I could have done without that but it did explain logically that Karen hopefully will be out of the picture for the Angle-Joe match.

Thursday night I was entertained for two hours and after seeing Raw Monday and almost passing out from boredom, I can truthfully say that Impact has grown much more entertaining than all of the WWE shows combined. I'll give the show a 8.0. Good TV and good build for the Lockdown PPV.

Len Smith
Raleigh, N.C.

LARRY KING LIVE SPOOF

Just wanted to drop you a line on the recent Larry King Live "transcript." Really funny. I actually laughed out loud at quite a few points. It was like a routine of "Who's on First?"

John Keating

***

Just want to say that the Larry King article was great! You got John Cena, Triple H and Money Mayweather down pat!

Shane McKinley

LOCAL JOBBERS

I enjoyed your "Ask the Editor" article on local jobbers, with your reference to memorable jobbers of the '70s and '80s.

Your younger readers probably don't realize that in the days of territory wrestling, local shows were held weekly, not every six months to a year. And within a four hour drive (at least in the NWA), there would be four to six shows a week. You'd work Augusta, Ga. on Monday. Then Marietta, Columbus, and Macon. And there were big cards weekly in the larger cities like Columbia, S.C. or Atlanta. Same with every other state in the NWA region. So the "local jobbers" actually had far more in-ring experience than the indy wrestler of today who might only perform once a week.

The "territory jobbers" could make an extra $5 bucks a night for ten minutes of work, six nights a week. And this was when weekly wages were often less than $100.

Because the crowds saw these jobbers on a regular basis, the regional/local wrestling TV shows paid far more attention to their backstory than the faceless "meat" seen in the national promotions today. Gordon Solie or the local TV announcer would always mention which jobber was a high school teacher, who was a fireman, who was a former Marine. Because the announcers took a few seconds to personalize the jobber, audiences grew familiar with both face and heel jobbers. Because of the audience attachment, the jobber was much more effective in elevating the winning wrestler (or in making them more despicable) than today's anonymous performers. And, since the jobber often worked the same program with the same wrestler three or four times a week, there was a high degree of confidence between the wrestlers and often excellent matches.

While most of the jobbers never rose above that role and their names are lost to antiquity, many became successful main eventers.

Terry Dugas
Following wrestling since the late-'50s

JEFF HARDY SUSPENSION

I was thoroughly disappointed to read the comments of Mark DiNatale and AA Norman in last Tuesday's "Other Voices" feature. The "poor Jeff Hardy" tone set forth by both is flat out disturbing.

When somebody like Chris Masters or Test gets suspended (or fired) after wellness violations, the Internet community takes every opportunity to chastise and condemn them. But when it's a fanboy favorite like Jeff Hardy, it's time to pity the performer. In Mr. Norman's words, "My assumption at this point is that he felt he needed to take drugs to ease the increasing pain from such maneuvers." So it's OK for Jeff Hardy; we should forgive him for his recreational drug uses because he simply did it to ease the pain caused by his in-ring style, which we enjoyed.

How does that differ from Masters or Test. Did anyone ever say, "My assumption at this point is that he felt he needed to take steroids in order to keep his spot?" Internet wrestling fans don't like the style of wrestling provided for Test or Chris Masters, so nobody makes excuses for them.

The most alarming statement came from Mr. DiNatale: "I wish they would start the suspension after WrestleMania and give him the 60 days once he wins the MITB match."

In essence, Mr. DiNatale is stating that Jeff Hardy should be rewarded, not punished. There are enough flaws in WWE's Wellness Policy; the last thing we need is fans advocating for more loopholes.

The fact of the matter is that Jeff Hardy made choices, and very bad ones. Despite his past battles with drugs, he returned to a rough WWE schedule that would lead him into temptation. WWE did the right thing in suspending Jeff Hardy. If there is a third violation (which, unfortunately, all signs point toward), WWE should outright fire Jeff Hardy, and he has no one to blame but himself.

Michael Moore
Casper, Wy.

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