Bleacher Report - Articles by FRANK

Roy Halladay from Toronto Blue Jays' Point of View

FRANK — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:13:11 -0500

With the list of potential free agents being adequate at best, this Hot Stove season will be heated with potential trades. Leading the list of "Who Will Win The (insert name) Sweepstake" is Roy Halladay.

The current market seems to include both Los Angeles and New York teams, Boston and Chicago Cubs. I expect this list to grow with Atlanta, St. Louis and Philly jumping in the game.

Before deciding who will win and pay at least $120 million over six years, we need to understand what the Toronto Blue Jays need and who they may want.

Needs

New GM Alex Anthopoulos (aka GM Alex) needs to make a splash and regroup the Blue Jays with this trade.

The Blue Jays infield are set at second and third (tentatively) with Aaron Hill and Edwin Encarnacion, respectively. First base is currently manned by Lyle Overbay, but an improvement wouldn't hurt.

The outfield spots are locked with Adam Lind, Travis Snider and Vernon Wells. Though, I'm sure the Blue Jays wish they can turn back the clock on that Wells signing.

The pitching staff has some depth with Ricky Romero, Scott Richmond, Brett Cecil, Brian Tallet, and the return of Shane Marcum. Plus, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch are expected back before the All-Star game.

Despite all those names, a veteran pitcher who can give them some quality innings at the No. 2 spot is required. This may need to be acquired with the saved money.

For any team, bullpen help is always required. The Blue Jays seem to have a quality 'pen with Jason Frasor, Brandon League, Jeremy Accardo, Scott Downs, Jesse Carlson, and Shawn Camp.

Reviewing the roster, the needs lie at catcher, shortstop, DH, and a solid No. 2 for the rotation.

Market

Understanding what positions are required we would expect the Blue Jays to aim for two major league ready players and two prospects (one top).

1. Los Angeles Dodgers

The Dodgers are loaded with young inexpensive players who are starting to make a big impact, plus, the Dodgers always seem to have talented prospects.

A trade centered around OF Andre Ethier (2009 salary: $3.1 million) and RP George Sherrill ($2.75 million) would be a good start. Especially if GM Alex was able to get SS Ivan DeJesus included.

To get these players, GM Alex will have to sell Roy Halladay to the Dodgers and make them understand that they really need him, not only to compete with their divisional foes, but against the Phillies.

The Dodgers do need Halladay to ace their rotation that includes Chad Billinglsey (faded in the second half), Clayton Kershaw (a star in the making), Hiroki Kuroda, and Jason McDonald. The rotation fell apart towards the end of the season and have too many question marks leading into 2010.

The Dodgers have a history of not trading young players. This may be a tough trade to complete, but one that seems to be a nice fit for both.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (*** out of five)

2. Los Angeles Angels

The past five years, the Angels have become stubborn as the Dodgers in trading young talent. In my opinion, this has hurt the Angels from acquiring guys like Johan Santana and Matt Holliday. Though I do give them kudos with the Mark Teixeira trade in '08.

Even though the Angels may lose ace John Lackey to free agency, they are still solid in the rotation with Jered Weaver, Earvin Santana, Scott Kazmir, and Joe Saunders.

They may look to acquire a middle to back-end pitcher to fill their rotation, rather than trade for Halladay.

If the Angels wanted to win the sweepstakes, you can expect the Blue Jays to ask for a package centered around 1B Kendry Morales or OF Juan Rivera. Getting Jeff Mathis included would be nice.

I don't see the Angels making a trade for Halladay unless the price is extremely favorable.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (* out of five)

3. New York Yankees

The World Champions are always linked to rumors, even if they are about Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston (what beauties).

I don't see a fit, especially since they play in the same division. It's bad enough that AJ Burnett went interdivision;not going to happen with the Blue Jays in control of his destiny.

Plus, they don't have the right personnel to trade unless they blow GM Alex away with Melky Cabrera ($1.4 million), Phil Hughes, and at least one more top prospect. Not sure if that still would be enough.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (* out of five)

4. New York Mets

The Mets are the most desperate to make this trade possibility a reality. They need to overcome the terrible signing of Oliver Perez and the regression Mike Pelfrey made in 2009. This trade would sure up the top of the rotation with Johan Santana.

They also need to please the angry fan base, who have seen their beloved team collapse in September in 2007 and 2008 after losing game seven in 2006, if they want to fill those nice seats in Citi Field.

Similar to the Santana sweepstakes, the Mets GM Omar Minaya, will need to continually pursue this trade and stay visible to GM Alex. Also they play in the other league which helps.

Any trade will need to start with 25-year old Pelfrey ($2.2 million) and may also require top outfield prospect Fernando Martinez or prospect first baseman Ike Davis. Other players in the picture include P Bob Parnell, P Eddie Kunz, and P Jonathon Niese.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (**** out of 5)

5. Chicago Cubs

The Cubs are starting to realize that Carlos Zambrano's past workload is catching up with him, therefore another ace is required.

Getting Halladay should be enough to dethrone the Cardinals and seriously compete for the NL Pennant.

There's no one player to center a deal, but definitely a package with 3B/OF Jake Fox, SP Randy Wells, or SP Sean Marshall and Of Micah Hoffpauir should do it.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (** out of five)

6. Philadelphia Phillies

Would the Phillies stand pat again and allow the Mets to obtain a top pitcher?

If not, they shouldn't have a problem acquiring Halladay to join what would become the best rotation since the 90s Braves.

They could easily put a package together which starts with Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up SP JA Happ or super prospect SP Kyle Drabek (son of 1990 NL Cy Young Winner Doug). The Phillies would probably be willing to include outfielders Ben Francisco or John Mayberry to complete the deal.

I truly feel that the Phillies could complete a deal in a heartbeat if they mention one of the two pitchers.

The Phillies may feel they have enough talent and pitching to compete and win again with the current roster, especially, with Cliff Lee, Cole Hamels, Happ, Jamie Moyer, and Joe Blanton in the rotation. Let's not forget one of the best offenses in baseball as well.

They only receive three stars because they probably feel that they are good enough and are looking to keep the payroll around $105 million.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (*** out of five)

7. Boston Red Sox

Similar to the Yankees, I can't fathom GM Alex trading Halladay to a division rival, but you never know if the Red Sox are so desperate that they offer a package similar to SS Jed Lowrie, P Clay Buchholz, and P Michael Bowden.

TRADE POSSIBILITY RATING (* out of five)

Trade Partners

After analyzing the market and potential players that would be involved, I have come to the following conclusions:

a. Phillies have the best talent to complete the trade, but is unlikely to be a partner.

b. Mets are the most desperate to complete this trade similar to the Santana sweepstakes and have the payroll room to pay the hefty tag.

c. Dodgers are the best trade partner if they are willing to part with Ethier.

d. Both the Yankees and Red Sox will be content with having Halladay leave the American League like they were with Santana.

Outcome

GM Alex needs to make a big splash and fill some holes with this trade. The Blue Jays can continue to be contenders next year and in the near future even after losing Halladay, Alex Rios, Burnett, and BJ Ryan in the past year.

It would help if they played in another division.

Trades like this and the fan speculations, are the main reasons why the Baseball Hot Stove League have morphed into a sport in itself.

Perhaps, I should start a Fantasy Hot Stove League.

Let the fun begin and enjoy.

Happy Thanksgiving.

NFL All-Decade Team: 2000-2009

FRANK — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:46:19 -0500

As we pass the middle of the 2009, the first decade of the Y2k is coming to an end. This slideshow will honor the best players at each position, as we identify the NFL All Decade Team for the 2000s. The players honored played a majority of the decade. Only the stats accumulated during this decade was taken into consideration and so was amount of times chosen to the All Pro. I would appreciate your thoughts (favorable or not) and would like to hear what team and player you would select as the decade's best. Hope you enjoy.

Begin Slideshow

The Great Muta: International Superstar Keiji Mutoh

FRANK — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:11:03 -0500

Keiji Mutoh, the current President of All Japan Pro Wrestling, is well known globally as The Great Muta. Mutoh was one of the quickest and most exciting wrestlers to ever compete in Professional Wrestling.

After competing in Judo competition, which he would incorporate in his wrestling style, Mutoh made his debut in 1984.

Mutoh had the luxury of learning the ropes by legendary trainer Hiro Matsuda. Matsuda's list of trainees includes Hulk Hogan, Paul "Mr. Wonderful" Orndoff, Ron Simmons, Lex Luger and the "Nature Boy" Ric Flair.

After a brief run in New Japan Pro Wrestling, as White Ninja, he decided to head to North America for seasoning.

His first stop in North America was with World Class Championship Wrestling as The Super Ninja. Mutoh had a brief feud with Kevin Von Erich and joined Gary Hart's Devastation Inc. before departing to World Wrestling Council (WWC).

In WWC, a well-balanced blend of speed, technical ability, agility and eye pleasing moves quickly won over the lucha libre crowd. Mutoh went on to win the WWC Puerto Rico Heavyweight Title and WWC Television Title. He also found himself in bloody feuds with Carlos Colon, Abdullah The Butcher and Bruiser Brody which would turnout to be a helpful experience for his future matches.

His next stop on the "North America Tour" was in Florida where he was managed by Sir Oliver Humperdink and teamed with his "father" Great Kabuki to form the Rising Suns . Mutoh also captured the Florida Heavyweight Title, returning to the White Ninja ego, from Kendall Windham.

His recognition and visibility in Florida caught the eye of Jim Crockett who quickly signed him. Mutoh's career was about to take off and The Great Muta was born.

The Great Muta wore face paint and spewed green mist into the air before his matches similar to The Great Kabuki and Kendo Nagasaki. His popular moves were the Moonsault, Figure Four Leg Lock, Crazy Elbow Drop and Dragon Screw Legwhip each move providing excitement and fan appreciation.

Mutoh would make a headlock or armbar look like the most exciting move ever. He just had that intensity and ability to perform great matches.

Mutoh's first and biggest feud in WCW was with Sting. It was the perfect matchup between the two most exciting and young wrestlers heading into the '90s.

After three months of fan pleasing matches, Muta defeated Sting in September of 1989 to win the NWA World Television Title. Their heated feud continued into the next decade mostly in Japan.

After losing the title to Arn Anderson in January of 1990, Muta left North America and returned home to begin his quest as the best wrestler in Japan.

This time Mutoh had approximately four years of wrestling experience from Puerto Rico, Texas, Florida and Jim Crockett Promotions. As well as the experience of competing against the best in the business (Flair, Luger, Terry Funk, Sting, Colon, Brody...), which provided him recognition and helped in fine tuning his style.

Mutoh's quickly allied himself with Masa Chono and won the New Japan's IWGP Tag Team Title.

The success that these two fightersa garnered help them to surpass greats like Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Riki Choshu as the next generation of stars. The next generation label was cemented when Chono won the NWA World Heavyweight Title and Mutoh won the IWGP Heavyweight Title in 1992.

In 1993, Mutoh became the first wrestler to hold both the NWA and IWGP Heavyweight Titles when he defeated Chono in a title versus title match.

In Japan, Mutoh has won approximately 16 championships ranging over the top singles and tag titles in Japan.

Aside from the long list of championships, Mutoh is infamous for taking part in what is considered the bloodiest match of all time against Hiroshi Hase. Due to the excessive bleeding caused by Mutoh's deep blading, fans created the "Muta Scale " to grade bloody matches ranging from 0.0 Muta to 1.0 Muta.

Mutoh is credited as one of the first Japanese wrestlers to achieve a fan base outside of his native Japan. He often praises the wrestling fans in the United States as helping him to mature.

The Great Muta gimmick remains one of the most influential gimmicks in puroresu, having been emulated by many wrestlers including The Great Koji, The Great Kazushi and The Great Nita.

It's good to know that Mutoh has continued to wrestle as an International Superstar in the new millenium, appearing in ROH cards in England and back in the United States.

Here are some Great Muta links to view:

Link One

Link Two

Link Three

Top 50 Wrestlers: Ranked by Pro Wrestling Illustrated (Number 50-36)

FRANK — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:03:04 -0500

This ranking is a follow-up to the tag team series that was written in October, which was a pleasure to write and fun to go down memory lane.

Similar to the tag team series, I will list and provide career summary of the top wrestlers in the order which Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) ranked them in 2003.

The wrestlers ranked fought during the existence of this fine publication. Therefore, pre-70s superstars like Lou Thesz, Gorgeous George, and Buddy Rogers are not included.

Nor, will Japanese greats like Antonio Inoki, Shohei Baba, and Tiger Mask. I have narrowed the list to wrestlers who mostly fought in North America.

I hope you enjoyed this series and look forward to your comments and opinions.

50 - Magnum TA

Prior to joining Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP), Magnum TA started out fighting in NWA territories like Florida and Pacific Northwest under his real name, Terry Allen.

It was in Mid-South where "Magnum" was born, and then "TA" was added after Andre The Giant recommended his initials be included.

In Mid-South, Mr. Wrestling II took Magnum TA under his wing and showed him the ropes (so to speak). They won the tag titles in December 1983 by defeating two future WWF stars named Butch Reed and Jim Neidhart.

This team was extremely popular and seemed to be the perfect match. Mr. Wrestling II had delighted fans in both Georgia and Mid-South with his combination of fine scientific wrestling and fine sportsmanship.

Magnum TA, on the other hand, was in the early stages of his career and already showing enormous promise.

He already held the Mid-South tag team title with Hacksaw Jim Duggan and was quickly becoming a big favorite of Mid-South fans. Under Mr. Wrestling II, the sky seemed to be the limit.

The heel turned began when II became envious of Magnum's success in the single front. Magnum TA was named the number one contender to the North American Title (Regional's top championship).

At the contract signing between TA and champion Junkyard Dog, II claimed that Magnum was too inexperienced and that JYD was a cowardly champion.

This was totally out of character. Magnum immediately tried to calm down his mentor. II amazingly thanked Magnum with a hard slap in the face.

The jealousy led to the split of the team and the mentor v. student feud. This was a classic and legendary feud.

With JCP, Magnum won the U.S. title twice including an I Quit match against Tully Blanchard at Starrcade 1985.

In 1986, the seed was planted for Magnum TA to becomes the organization's Hulk Hogan until a terrible car accident occurred in October which derailed Magnum's career.

As mentioned in World Wrestling Entertainment Presents Starrcade The Essential Collection , plans were set to have Magnum defeat Ric Flair at Starrcade '86. It was a total shame what occurred that fall day.

49 - Scott Hall

Around the time that Magnum joined JCP, Scott Hall was signed by AWA and became a carbon copy of Magnum TA and Hulk Hogan.

With Curt Hennig, Scott Hall won the AWA tag belts and after dropping them, received a push for the AWA World Title. Hall was unsuccessful in beating Stan Hansen.

In the WWF, Hall changed his name to Razor Ramon. The character was developed based on Al Pacino's Scarface character Tony Montana.

Hall's "bad boy" image, mic skills and terrible accent was a hit with the WWF fans. He won four Intercontinental championships and participated in many outstanding matches like the Ladder Match at Wrestlemania X against Shawn Michaels.

In WCW, Hall participated in the greatest wrestling angle ever as a member of the Outsiders and then NWO.

Hall won the WCW Tag Team belts seven times, United States title twice, and the WCW TV title once.

48 - Chris Benoit

Chris' hope of becoming a pro wrestler began when he was allowed to train with Stu Hart and the clan in the legendary "Dungeon" at the age of 14. There he trained for three years and endured a strenuous training.

Chris would later be quoted saying "Going to the Hart family for training was kind of like, if you're a very religious person, going to the Vatican" - WWE Unscripted.

Chris began fighting in Stampede Wresting at the young age of 17, idolizing and competing with Bret Hart and Dynamite Kid. He was successful in winning the regional titles but left to compete in Japan as the '90s rolled in.

Though Chris was successful and was well-trained, his stardom didn't take off until 1995. He returned to WCW to become a member of the Four Horsemen.

After leaving the group, Chris rekindled his ECW success and began teaming with Dean Malenko again, this led to them winning the WCW Tag Team Belts in 1999.

In 2000, Chris joined the WWF/WWE with fellow stars Eddy Guerrero, Malenko, and Perry Saturn to for The Radicalz.

Chris won 12 WWE titles, including the World Title. At WrestleMania XX, Triple H tapped out of The Crippler Crossface.

No doubt that Chris Benoit worked hard to be as successful as he was. The man was born to wrestle and put his body on the line to entertain the fans.

47 - Bam Bam Bigelow

In a recent article that I wrote, "Ranking the Giants of Pro Wrestling," my omission of Bam Bam Bigelow was identified by many readers. Which was a big mistake to leave him off.

I'm glad to see that PWI had more sense than me and included him in this ranking.

Bigelow was popular due to being so agile for a big man. His popular moves were cartweels, dropkicks, flying headbutts, and flying moonsaults which were usually performed by men 100lbs lighter.

He was also popular due to the ring attire and many tattoos of flames.

Due to Bigelow's constant traveling between organizations and countries (Japan), his championship list was limited.

His major titles were holding the ECW World Title, ECW TV Title, and the WCW Tag Team Titles (with Diamond Dallas Page and Kanyon).

46 - Jack Brisco

Jack and his brother Jerry formed one of the best and most successful tag teams during the 70s. They held NWA tag team titles over 24 times for various regions.

Jack also was a successful singles wrestler, holding over 10 different titles including the NWA World Title (2 times).

Jack defeated Harley Race in 1973 and held the belt for a year and half before losing to Giant Baba. Four days later, Brisco regained the belt, marking him as the second wrestler (after Lou Thesz) to hold the titles on multiple occasions.

He defended the belt all over the NWA regions for another year until losing the belt to Terry Funk in 1975. Jack has the recognition of being the only multi-titleholder to have his title reigns last over a year.

45 - Owen Hart

Owen Hart began his WWF career as the masked highflyer named Blue Blazer. This gimmick was develop to avoid promoting Owen as Bret Hart's brother.

Though the Blue Blazer was exciting and the fans enjoyed the aerial maneuver, the Blue Blazer was not able to gain any success.

After leaving the WWF for two years, Owen returned and started teaming with Jim Neidhart to fill the void left by Bret who was being pushed as a singles competitor.

Owen began teaming with Bret in the mid-90s which led to a feud between the two and some outstanding matches.

Two matches that stand out are the steel cage match at SummerSlam '94 and a lumberjack match which Owen initially won but the match was order to continue due to interference. In both matches, Bret was victorious.

In 1995, Owen won his first title which was the WWF Tag Team titles with Yokozuna. The team held the belts for five months until Shawn Michaels and Diesel defeated them.

Owen went on to hold the Tag Titles a total of four times, the Intercontinental Title twice, and once held the European Title. He probably would have won the World Title if it wasn't for that terrible accident in Kansas City.

Owen was a terrific wrestler who was very entertaining with the mic and in the ring. His role as the younger and spoiled brother of Bret was played to perfection. Perhaps the jealous act and need to get out of Bret's shadow was based on reality.

Owen, you are missed.

44 - Diamond Dallas Page

DDP broke into the wrestling biz as a heel manager in the AWA in 1988. He managed the team of Badd Company (Paul Diamond and Pat Tanaka) who he led to the World Tag Team titles.

Page went to the WCW to manage the Fabulous Freebirds (Michael Hayes and Jimmy Garvin) in 1991.

Later in the year, Page decided to train with Dusty Rhodes to become a wrestler at the age of 35.

In the fall of '94, Page won his first title when he defeated Ultimate Warrior wannabe Renegade for the WCW TV Championship.

In the late 90s, Page held the tag belts four times, the US title twice and the World Title three times.

Twice he won the World Title via a Four-Way Match and the third time, he defeated Jeff Jarrett in a steel cage match.

Though he won all the titles and being a fan of DDP, I feel this ranking was a bit high. Most of his titles, especially the World Titles, were during a period when the talent in the WCW was limited.

The World Title basically changed hands every month during 1999 and 2000. Everyone was champion.

But man, was that Diamond Cutter lethal.

43 - Arn Anderson

This ranking is mostly due to his extreme success in the tag team divisions teaming with Tully Blanchard, Ole Anderson, and Bobby Eaton.

As a singles competitor, the "Enforcer" won the NWA TV Title in 1990 by defeating Great Muta with a DDT. He held the belt for almost a year before losing it to Tom Zenk. This marked the second time he held this belt (1984).

He held the NWA/WCW TV Title a total of four times in between winning the NWA, WCW, and WWF World Tag Team Championships.

Arn Anderson, along with Ric Flair, was the reason why the Four Horsemen stable dominated professional wrestling for almost two decades.

To this day, fans find The Four Horsemen so intriguing and the benchmark for all stables to compare.

42 - Big John Studd

Prior to the WWF, Studd held the Mid-Atlantic tag belts with Ken Patera and participated in titles matches against the NWA World Champion Ric Flair.

In the WWF, Studd was the backbone of the Heenan Family and featured in some classic feuds against Hulk Hogan and Andre The Giant.

This ranking may be a bit high for Studd as he was not able to sustain a long period of success that would warrent a top 50 ranking.

Wrestling Observer Newsletter may agree as they chose Studd as the Most Overrated Wrestler in 1984, which was during peak of his success.

41 - Kevin Nash

Contrary to Nash's success in the WWF as Diesel, he was known in the WCW as Master Blaster Steel (in 1990), Oz (in '91), and Vinnie Vegas (in '92). These gimmicks were short lived and were not pushed.

In 1994, Diesel started to find success winning all three WWF titles during that year. He won the Intercontinental Title from Razor Ramon and months later won the World Tag Team belts with Shawn Michaels by defeating The Headshrinkers. He then beat Bob Backlund for the WWF title in November after turning face.

In '95, Diesel and Shawn Michaels feuded for the belt which culminated at WrestleMania XI with Diesel winning. The team was united after Michaels was attacked by his new bodyguard Psycho Sid.

Nash joined Scott Hall in leaving the WWF in early '96 to join the WCW. They formed the Outsiders and starred in one of the best angles in wrestling history. The team initially appeared as fans taunting the announcers, wrestlers and the company with the angle that they were sent by the WWF to "invade" WCW.

After weeks of stating that a third member would appear and join their movement, Hulk Hogan finally appear as that member and the nWo was formed.

Nash held the WCW Tag Team belts nine times with Scott Hall, Diamond Dallas Page, and Sting. He also the World Title five times.

Funny thing with Kevin Nash's career is the various roller-coaster recognition he received from PWI and Wrestler Observer Newsletter.

His Oz gimmick was voted the Worst Gimmick of 1991, Most Improved Wrestler in 1994, Wrestler of the Year in 1995 and participated in the Match of The Year against Shawn Michaels, Tag Team of the Year in 1997 with Scott Hall, Most Overrated and Worst Wrestler in 1999 and 2000, and voted Readers' Least Favorite Wrestler.

I feel Nash should be higher in the ranking, perhaps breaking the Top 25 list.

40 - David Von Erich

David was the first of the brothers to break into the family business, which he debuted in June 1977.

Two months later, he fought the NWA World Champ Harley Race to a 30 minute draw. Two years later he would defeat Race in the NWA Missouri region with the famous Iron Claw in a non-title match.

In 1982, David Von Erich fought in the Florida region as a heel under JJ Dillon and fought with Kendo Nagasaki and Jimmy Garvin. He would become great friends with Garvin and convince him to join him in Texas.

In 1983, Garvin and David enjoyed a successful feud in the WCCW for the Texas Title which changed hands throughout the feud. The feud also included in Garvin and his valet Sunshine being forced to serve as David's valet for a day.

These two flamboyant people were required to work on the farm cleaning up after the animals. It was funny watching Jimmy plea to David about the chores.

In September of 1983, David defeated Ric Flair for the NWA Missouri Title which he held for four months. This victory was suppose to push David to win the NWA World Title.

The St. Louis Club and Central States Wrestling regions were the biggest draw for the NWA during the 70s and 80s. The founders Sam Muchnick (St Louis Club) and Bob Geigel (CSW) were powerful men on the board.

Geigel served as the NWA President during these years which was the reason for the guys like Race, Flair, and Terry Funk getting shots to win the World Title. All politics!!!

Unfortunately, David did not live long enough to capture the World Title which many felt he would win. He died in Japan in February '84, months before the schedule bout with champion Ric Flair.

39 - Rick Rude

Prior to joining the WWF in 1987, Rude competed in various regions like Georgia, Memphis, Florida and for Jim Crockett Promotions.

During this time he capture many of the regional titles, including the Mid-Atlantic Tag Titles with "Ragin Bull" Manny Fernandez and the World Class Wrestling World Heavyweight Title.

In the WWF, Rude featured in notable feuds against Jake "the Snake" Roberts and the Ultimate Warrior. Rude defeated Warrior to win his only WWF title in WrestleMania X, the Intercontinental Belt.

In the WCW, Rude help to form the Dangerous Alliance and defeated Sting to win the WCW United States Championship. He held the title for 14 months and lost it due to a legitimate injury in December of 1992.

If you need any proof that steroids are terrible in the long run, just remember how fit Rude was and then realize he died at the age of 40.

Too, Too Young.

38 - Rey Mysterio Jr.

Rey Mysterio helped to revolutionize the Cruiserweight Division in the United States beginning in the WCW.

In 1996, Eric Bischoff made an agreement with Mexican organization Asistencia Asesoria y Administraction (AAA) to have their top fighters compete in the WCW.

This agreement was a hit with the fans of WCW who were pleased with the high flying, fast pace performance that wrestlers like Juventud Guerrera, Psychosis, and Rey Mysterio perfected.

Mysterio finished his WCW reign winning the Cruiserweight Title five times and the WCW World Tag Team belts three times (with Billy Kidman, Konnan, and Juventud Guerrera).

By the time of the ranking in 2003, Mysterio was competing in the WWE and teaming with Edge. They defeated Kurt Angle and Chris Benoit for the WWE World Tag Team Championship.

I believe his ranking would be a lot higher if tallied later on in the decade. Mysterio has proved to all doubters that lightweight fighters can compete in all weight classes. As proved by the feud with The Big Show.

He remains one of the most exciting wrestlers of all time.

37 - Curt Hennig

I had the privilege of seeing Curt grow as a professional wrestler from the AWA to the WWF to the WCW as a member of the Horsemen and then nWo.

In one of the most famous match in Road Warriors history, Curt teamed with Baron Von Raschke to compete for the AWA World Tag Team Title. Curt's father Larry "Ax" Henning was doing commentary outside the ring.

During the match, Larry was talking about how proud he was of Curt and his success at a young age. The Hennig team had the Road Warriors on the run and looked like they may win the belts.

Unfortunately the tides changed after Hennig's head got caught between the ropes. It was now time for the Warriors to take advantage and pounce on the young wrestler which led to a bloody mess.

His father's attempt to help was interrupted by Paul Ellering and the Warriors continued to beat down Hennig, now with a chair.

What a match!

This led to brawls between the Hennigs and the Road Warriors.

After the Warriors departed the AWA, Hennig started teaming with Scott Hall to fill the void. They defeated Jimmy Garvin and Steven Regal, who beat the Road Warriors, for the tag team belts.

After dropping the belts to Buddy Rose and Doug Sommers, Hennig received a push as a singles wrestler. The angle was that Henning was developing an edge that borderlined heel.

Eventually, Hennig turned heel and defeated Nick Bockwinkel for the AWA World Title at SuperClash '87. He held the belt for over one year and quickly left after losing it to Jerry Lawler.

Henning appeared in the WWF as Mr. Perfect. I felt this was one of the best angles that the WWF developed and was fitting for this fine wrestler.

Henning went undefeated for over a year fighting guys like Blue Blazer, Jimmy Snuka, and Terry Taylor.

Under the management of Bobby Heenan, Henning won the Intercontinental Title tournament by defeating Tito Santana in 1990.

As talented of a wrestler Hennig was, I never understood why the "Perfect-Plex" was his finishing move. It was pretty lame.

36 - Abdullah The Butcher

Abdullah fought in six decades, dating back to 1958.

His violent battles against Carlos Colon, Bruiser Brody, and Herculez Ayala were legendary.

Abdullah goal was to make his opponent's face match his red wrestling pants that he wore. His excessive violence and complete disregard of his and his opponents body was reputation which followed him throughout his career.

Abdullah’s matches almost always turned into bloodbaths, and he was infamous for stabbing his opponent’s wounds with his trademark fork (or any other foreign weapon that he could get his hands on).

This style of fighting was admired and adapted by Cactus Jack, Kevin Sullivan, Kamala, and Sabu to name a few.

Though very popular in Puerto Rico, Japan, and Canada, Abdullah The Butcher didn't participate much in the "Big Three" organizations.

His most famous angle was when he was introduced in WCW in a giant, gift-wrapped box which was given to Sting as a gift from Cactus Jack. Sting unwrapped his gift and Abdullah attacked him.

This led to a "Chamber of Horrors" match at Halloween Havoc 1991. Abdullah was accidently "electrocuted" by Jack during the match.

Abdullah the Butcher is one scary dude who really enjoys what he does for a living as evident by his long tenure in this profession.

I will continue the series shortly and hope you enjoy the first installment.

Match of the Decade: Ranking Pro Wrestling Illustrated Annual Winners (1990s)

FRANK — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:18:19 -0400

Each year since 1972, Pro Wrestling Illustrated has recognized the best match of the year as voted on by the readers of the magazine.

Some of the wrestlers who participated in multiple matches of the year were Shawn Michaels (nine matches), Bruno Sammartino (five matches), and Ric Flair (five matches).

It's no coincidence that many of the wrestlers selected are recognized as the best in the business.

Here, we will list and discuss the ten winning matches during the 1990s and provide a ranking to identify who was the "Best of the Best" to be called the 'Match of The Decade'.

By no means does this list identify the top ten matches during the decade, just the winners chosen for each year.

Please provide your opinion as I would like to hear what your selection(s) would be.

10 —Diesel v. Shawn Michaels w/ Psycho Sid (4/2/95)

Diesel defeated Bob Backlund for the WWF Championship in November, which did not sit well with Shawn Michaels. This motivated Michaels to win the Royal Rumble and gain a shot at the title in WrestleMania XI.

It looked liked Michaels would win the match, especially after playing some "Sweet Chin Music." The referee, however, was outside after hurting his ankle, so the count was delayed and Diesel was kicked out.

Though Michaels outworked his opponent the whole bout, the match swayed to Diesel's favor at the end. Diesel was able to retain the title after executing the "Jackknife Powerbomb." Diesel cleanly defeated Shawn Michaels.

I remember being disappointed with the outcome and the match, and still feel this way today. I'm sure there were a dozen or so matches more deserving to win Match of the Year.

Other top matches in '95:

Rey Misterio v. Psicosis
Eddy Guerrero v. Dean Malenko
Ultimo Dragon v. Chris Jericho

9 —Shawn Michaels v. Marty Jannetty (5/17/93)

During an interview on Monday Night Raw, Michaels stated that he would defend his WWF Intercontinental Title against anyone, anywhere, when Marty Jannetty appeared in the ring—from the crowd—to accept the invitation.

This match would be the first match for the returning Jannetty, which was scheduled for the end of the show.

The two former partners provided a fast paced match, which Jannetty controlled for the first half of the match. The fans were clearly behind Jannetty, chanting "Marty, Marty, Marty." Curt Henning was ringside.

Since Jannetty was on his game and reversing every move, Michaels grabbed his belt to attempt to leave the arena. But to his dismay, Mr. Perfect appeared to lure him back to the ring. Henning remained on the outside of the ring.

Toward the end of the nine-minute bout, Michaels took control of the match and hit Jannetty with his "Sweet Chin Music." But instead of pinning Jannetty, Michaels began taunting Hennig. He then threw his folded towel (which he always carried) at Michaels, who backed into a small package for a count of three.

Jannetty won his only WWF title, but lost it back to Michaels weeks later due to interference from Diesel.

Though the match was sound, especially for a non-PPV card, I didn't think it deserved to win Match of the Year.

Other top matches in '93:

Cactus Jack v. Vader
Sting v. Vader
Bret Hart v. Curt Henning

8 —Steiners v. Lex Luger & Sting (5/19/91)

Not much led up to this match that was booked for SuperBrawl. The Steiners defeated teams like the Road Warriors, Freebirds, and Midnight Express in prior matches. No other team provided a good matchup with them, except for the team of WCW United States Champs: Luger and Sting. It would be four excellent fighters who respected each other bringing their best for the WCW World Tag Team Championship.

The men exchanged body slams, suplexes, and clotheslines during this ten minute match.

The matches only flaw was that viewers had an idea of two things. First, the titles were not going to exchange hands because Luger and Sting were main event single wrestlers who were competing for the World Titles. Second, the outcome was not going to be "clean."

That's exactly what happened. As Luger and Rick fought outside the ring, Sting executed the "Stinger Splash" and was ready to pin Scott.

Down the ramp came Nikita Koloff, who was measuring Luger for a nasty "Lariat". Sting noticed Koloff and moved Luger out of the way and received the clothesline, which knocked him out. Not knowing what happened, Scott rolled over Sting for the pin.

Realizing who was to blame, Sting ran after Koloff. The two fought backstage and outside the arena.

This is the only non-WWF match recognized by PWI. Politics played a big part.

Other top matches in '91:

Ric Flair, Larry Zbyszko, Sid Vicious & Barry Windham vs. Steiners, Sting & Brian Pillman—War Games
Cactus Jack v. Eddie Gilbert
Randy Savage v. Ultimate Warrior

7 —Bret Hart v. British Bulldog (8/29/92)

The match was the main event of SummerSlam at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It pitted two fan favorites fighting for the WWF Intercontinental Championship. This match caused friction in the Hart clan, since Brett's sister is married to Davey Boy Smith.

At this time, both tag team sensations were being pushed as single competitors. Hart beat Mr. Perfect to win the belt in SummerSlam '91 and then feuded with Mountie.

The Bulldog was the feature wrestler to headline the push in Europe. Due to his origin and popularity, WWF was a success on Sky Sports in England.

The match was over 20 minutes of "see-saw action," which was a famous line of McMahon's play-by-play commentary. That was indeed the case in this match.

The match ended with Hart trying to perform a "Sunset Flip," which the Bulldog prevented and was able to pin Hart's shoulder for the victory.

80,000 fans went nuts at Wembley Stadium with the victory.

Hart was clearly upset with himself and initially wouldn't shake the Bulldog's hand, which ignited 80,000 fans to boo. But, when he finally did, the fans went nuts yet again.

This loss allowed Hart to make a run at the WWF World Title, which he succeeded. As for Bulldog's title reign, it lasted less than three months, and he was released shortly afterward for drug related reasons.

Other top matches in '92:

Jushin Thunder Liger v. "Flyin" Brian Pillman
Sting, Nikita Koloff, Dustin Rhodes, Ricky Steamboat & Barry Windham vs. Arn Anderson, Bobby Eaton, Steve Austin, Larry Zbyszko & Rick Rude —War Games
Eddie Gilbert v. Terry Funk

6 —Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels (3/31/96)

Shawn Michaels received a shot at the WWF World Title at WrestleMania XII after winning the Royal Rumble. The match was booked to be an Iron Man Match, with the winner being determined by the amount of scoring conditions within sixty minutes.

Shawn Michaels dominated the match, especially the first half. With less than a minute to go and the score at zero-zero, Michaels flew off the top rope but was stopped by Hart who then applied the "Sharpshooter." Michaels was able to hold off until the bell rang.

Hart left the ring with the belt thinking the match was a draw. But, Gorilla Monsoon told the referee that the match would continue in sudden death overtime.

After connecting with the "Sweet Chin Music," Michaels was unable to pin Hart quick enough. About a minute later, Michaels connected again with a super kick to become the new WWF World Heavyweight Champion.

Other top matches in '96:

Rey Misterio v. Juventud Guerrera
Bret Hart v. Steve Austin
Shawn Michaels v. Mankind

5 —The Rock v. Mankind (1/24/99)

Leading up to this match at Royal Rumble, promos were shown to reflect Mick Foley's past matches and brutal punishment he was able to sustain. This type of match, "I Quit," would benefit Mankind due to this ability to take and deliver pain.

Rock's promo (which is a classic) discussed how he was going to beat Mankind up all over the arena and make him say those two words.

Some famous quotes from the Rock's interviews leading up to the match include:

"Rock plans on sprinkling a Rock Bottom here and a Rock Bottom there. Rock going to take Mankind to the English announcer table and the Rock is going to go down the line. Spanish announcer table, French announcer table, Ho Chi Ming chow Chinese announcer table all the languages down the Rock's Rumble."

"Rock is going to drag Mankind down 'Know Your Role Boulevard,' hang a right down 'Jabroni Drive'. There it is the 'Smackdown Hotel.' Take his candy ass from room to room until it's check out time."

Boy, is Rock missed.

The match was pretty even until the fight was brought to the stands, where Mankind fell 15 feet through the electric circuit board. This caused most of the lights in the arena to go out.

From that point on, the match turned out as advertised. It was simply a test of how much pain Mankind could take before he would be forced to say the words.

The Rock dragged Mankind to the middle of the ring and handcuffed his arms behind his body. From the middle of the ring and up to the aisle, The Rock smashed the chair onto Mankind's head which cut him wide open, all the while demanding that Mankind quit.

Finally, a pre-recorded sample of Mankind saying "I quit" blared on the speakers, but those words never came out of his mouth. The match was over and The Rock regained his WWF World Heavyweight Championship.

Shortly after, Mankind regained the belt using a forklift truck. Then, finally, The Rock ended the feud by winning the belt a third time with the help of The Big Show during a ladder match.

Other top matches in '99:

Edge & Christian v. Hardys
Chris Benoit v. Bret Hart
Steve Austin v. Rock

4 —Bret Hart v. Steve Austin (3/23/97)

This feud began in October of 1996 due to Austin's relentless taunting of Hart—including Austin saying that you need to put a "S" in front of Hart's nickname (Hitman), in order to understand how Austin felt about him.

Hart eventually fought Austin and defeated him at Survivor Series.

But the feud continued when Austin helped Psycho Sid defeat Hart for the belt the day after Hart won the belt.

This led to the booking of a No DQ Submission Match for WrestleMania XIII with special referee Ken Shamrock. This is the first of two non-title matches that were recognized as a Match of the Year for their respective year during this decade.

From the moment the bell rang, the two began brawling all over the arena. The action in the ring was minimal, as Hart was looking to take out months of frustration. This is the action that I favor.

Watching this match again, I can truly understand and remember why Hart is one of the best ever. He can excel in a scientific match or he can brawl when required.

This match truly deserved the recognition it received, and the fans appreciation at the arena was felt with their reaction to each move. Headlocks and arm-bars were not permitted.

After numerous submission holds, Hart was able to get a bloodied Steve Austin to submit to the "Sharpshooter."

This match is one of four WWF/E which was rated five stars by Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

Other top matches in '97:

Undertaker v. Shawn Michaels
Eddy Guerrero v. Rey Misterio
Bret & Owen Hart & Davey Boy Smith & Jim Neidhart & Brian Pillman vs. Steve Austin & Ken Shamrock & Goldust & Legion of Doom

3 —Razor Ramon v. Shawn Michaels w/Diesel (3/20/94)

While Shawn Michaels was away, Razor Ramon began to rule the Intercontinental division. This didn't sit well with Michaels. So, after his return, he began claiming that he was the rightful champion.

The feud culminated in a ladder match at WrestleMania X. Along with the Austin-Hart match (ranked above), this match received five stars from Wrestling Observer Newsletter.

The match was even until the end, when Michaels knocked out Ramon with a superkick and then a piledriver. Due to fatigue, Michaels was not quick in taking advantage of the knockout.

Once he was able to get his energy back, the ladder was set for Michaels to climb and grab the Intercontinental belt. Ramon regained his consciousness and shoulder-blocked the ladder over when Michaels was climbing. Michaels right leg got tied up in the rope with the push. This allowed Ramon to climb the ladder and grab the belt.

I think the lure of this match was due to the high risk of injuries that these two men were willing to take in order to perform an excellent match.

Other top matches in '94:

Eddy Guerrero v. Dean Malenko
Shawn Michaels v. Jeff Jarrett
Sabu v. Devon Storm

2 —Hulk Hogan v. Ultimate Warrior (4/1/90)

This Title v. Title match—the first in WWF history—between the two most popular wrestlers at that time was appropriately billed as "The Ultimate Challenge".

Egos were portrayed as the reason for the conflict. Ultimate Warrior was seen as the wrestler for the 90s, as Hogan was for the 80s.

Most of the 20 minute match was a contest of strength and back and forth shifts of momentum.

Hogan locked Warrior in a lengthy sleeper hold, which Warrior fought his way out of, shook the ropes for his trademark adrenaline rush, and then scored with three consecutive clotheslines. This brought Warrior fans to their feet.

It was clear that the 60,000 plus fans in the Toronto Skydome were split on who they were rooting for.

The match finally reached its climax when Warrior performed his "Gorilla Press Drop" on Hogan, followed by the "Warrior Splash" and a pin. Hogan kicked out of the pin, then proceeded to "Hulk Up" (predictable). He the hit Warrior with the Big Boot, setting him up for the "Atomic Leg Drop." However, Warrior rolled out of the way (unpredictable) to avoid the move and scored another "Warrior Splash," which pinned Hogan for the 3-count.

I remember my emotions swinging from annoyed to ecstatic in a blink of an eye. I was very happy that the WWF was moving on, and that the win was clean.

Other top matches in '90:

Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane v. Tracy Smothers & Steve Armstrong
Steiners v. Nasty Boys
Ric Flair v. Lex Luger

1 —Undertaker v. Mankind (6/28/98)

The third ever 'Hell in a Cell' match occurred at King of the Ring in Pittsburgh, Penn.

A couple of minutes into the match, The Undertaker threw Mankind off of the top of the cell. The 16-foot fall onto the Spanish Announcers' table has become one of the most used clips in professional wrestling history. The fall also inspired play-by-play commentator Jim Ross to utter what is considered the most memorable comment in the history of professional wrestling: "Good, God almighty, good, God almighty. That killed him. As God as my witness, he is broken in half. "

Foley still continued to fight, even with paramedics wanting to wheel him out to the ambulance.

As if that fall wasn't enough, Undertaker choke-slammed Mankind through the roof of the cell, causing Jim Ross to scream "Good, God. Good, God." while his broadcast partner Jerry "The King" Lawler muttered softly "That's it, he's dead."

Ross added, "Will somebody stop the damn match? Enough is enough."

When the match ended, Foley insisted that he not be carried out on a stretcher as he was earlier, but to be allowed to walk out. Ultimately, he was helped to the back by WWF officials.

This show of two warriors battling out proved that Mick Foley was one tough S.O.B.

Well deserving for match of the year and my choice for "Match of the Decade".

Other top matches in '98:

Steve Austin v. Dude Love
Juventud Guerrera v. Billy Kidman
Rock v. Triple H

Ranking the Giants of Professional Wrestling

FRANK — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 23:38:00 -0400

Here's a tribute to the big, large and gigantic men of wrestling. Dating back to the 1950s, gargantuan men were booked to be an attraction as if they worked for the circus. They normally didn't hold titles, yet they were difficult to defeat. Most of their success were due to intimidating their foes with their size (normally 6'5'' and weighing over 400lbs) and strength. Vince McMahon saw these big men as the perfect foe to challenge and push Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Title. These matches help to establish Hogan and his title reign as legendary.

Begin Slideshow

Ranking The Top 50 Tag Teams: The PWI Years (9-1)

FRANK — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 09:23:15 -0400

I like to thank everyone for reading these articles. It was fun to go down memory lane with the many tag teams that I grew up reading about and watching.

It was no surprise that many of the tag teams made their mark in the '80s. Many people have dubbed that era the "Golden Years of Tag Team Wrestling."

Regional organizations like Georgia, Mid-South and World Class mostly had main events that were tag team matches. There were many times that the tag teams in Jim Crockett Promotions and AWA were more popular and exciting than the World Champions.

In the late 80s, the WWF tag team division may have been the deepest and most competitive ever. Why else would successful teams like the Rockers, Killer Bees, and Twin Towers not win the gold?

Tag team competition was so popular that World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) and Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) even featured many six-man matches and created six man titles and trophies. Of course, Survivor Series was born in 1987 to feature eight and ten men matches.

It definitely was the decade of the tag teams.

Now onto the list....

9 - Ted DiBiase & Steve "Dr Death" Williams

Before heading to the WWF and becoming "The Million Dollar Man", DiBiase was the star of Mid-South Wrestling. He held their title, the NWA North American Championship, four times and the NWA Mid-South Tag Team title five times (with Matt Borne, Hercules Hernandez, Jerry Stubbs, and twice with Williams).

In 1985, the good friends started teaming together to battle Eddie Gilbert and his stable. They would win the tag belts twice that year, defeating the Rock N' Roll Express and then Gilbert and his partner, Nightmare.

Prior to '85, these two guys would always have each other's back and would feud with the top faces of the organization. As heels, they feuded with Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Andre The Giant (who made cameo appearances), Magnum TA, Mr Wrestling ll, and Junkyard Dog.

DiBiase was the main heel for years until Ric Flair came around in early '85. The NWA World Champion would be booked in various regional organizations to fight their top wrestler or regional champion. This would help to draw fans and interest. In this case, that wrestler was Dibiase.

The match was scheduled to start the TV program but before the two men were able to grapple, a jealous Dick Murdoch came to the ring to let DiBiase know that he would take his place.

The two began providing their resumes and reasons why they should fight Flair. This led to the two brawling outside the ring and DiBiase having his head smashed in the ring post.

The angle was that DiBiase suffered a career ending injury and would not be able to fight. The commissioner gave DiBiase to the end of the program to fight or forfeit the match. During the program, Bill Watts would provide updates regarding the injury.

Of course, DiBiase was able to meet the deadline and went to the ring to fight Flair for the World Title. DiBiase entered the ring with a bloody bandage and quickly started brawling with Flair.

Bill Watts would repeatedly talk about how bad the injury was and cautioned the viewers that if the bandage came off, that they may not be able to stomach the sight. Of course that was exactly what the viewers wanted...reverse psychology at its best.

The bandage came off and DiBiase instantly sported a crimson mask: not a great sight but truly exciting. The fans, who normally booed Dibiase, were on their feet rooting for the organization's top heel.

As Flair chopped Ted, blood splattered everywhere. You can see the fans grimace with every chop delivered and then a look of disgust as the blood was just sprayed in their direction. Parents were covering the faces of their children.

This was a wrestling classic and must watch on YouTube.

Though DiBiase gave it his all, Flair was able to keep the title due to a countout.

From that point, on Dibiase and Williams became faces and started fighting the heel stables that existed during that time.

8 - Ricky Steamboat & Jay Youngblood

It's no surprise that the guys that will appear in the remaining spots were outstanding and efficient workers...Ricky Steamboat was one of the best.

Steamboat and Youngblood won six NWA Tag Titles during the early 80s and were voted The Best Tag Team of 1983.

There top feuds were with Ray Stevens, Sgt Slaughter/Don Kernodle, and Paul Jones.

7. Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard

As members of the Four Horsemen, Anderson and Blanchard began teaming up in '87 after Ole Anderson was kicked out of the stable. Their goals was to win the NWA World Tag Title quickly.

They won the titles twice, by defeating the Rock N' Roll Express and then Lex Luger & Barry Windham.

In late 1988, Anderson and Blanchard headed to the WWF to become the Brain Busters, under the management of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

It took the Brain Busters one year to win the WWF Tag Team belts. In July of '89, the Brain Busters defeated Demolition to become the first tag team to win both the WWF and NWA World Tag Team Championships.

After losing the belts back in November, Anderson left for the WCW and Blanchard was fired due to failing a drug test.

In just three years, one of the best teams ever had split for good.

6 - Dory & Terry Funk

The Funks began fighting on-and-off together in 1968, in their father's organization in Amarillo, Texas, until 1986 when Terry left the WWF to return to the NWA.

During this time, the Funk brothers became the only brother tandem to win the NWA World Heavyweight Title. As a team, they won Florida, Georgia, Puerto Rico, Amarillo, Southwest, and Japanese tag titles.

In 1986, these tough Texans went to the WWF to begin a feud with Junkyard Dog and Tito Santana. Terry would carry a branding iron which he would use on their opponents.

The team didn't last long in the WWF, since Terry left to fight Ric Flair in the famous "I Quit" match. Dory (nicknamed Hoss) began teaming up with their fictitious brother Jimmy Jack Funk (Jesse Barr).

There's a story that Barr's eye was gouged out in real-life fight by Haku in the dressing room which led to Jesse wearing a glass eye.

5. British Bulldogs

The Bulldogs joined the WWF after Vince McMahon bought Stampede Wrestling in 1985. It was only natural to have the Bulldogs fight the Hart Foundation, who also came over with the acquisition.

The matches were fast and exciting. These two teams planted the seed of what would become the deepest tag team division ever.

The next feud was with the tag team champs The Dream Team (Greg Valentine & Brutus Beefcake). The Bulldogs won the titles at WrestleMania 2 after the teams feuded ng for close to a year.

In late 1986, Dynamite Kid suffered a serious back injury during a match against Nikolai Volkoff & The Iron Sheik. The injury led to the Bulldogs having to lose their belts prematurely.

On January 26, 1987, the British Bulldogs lost the titles to the Hart Foundation in a match that saw a helpless Dynamite Kid needing to be carried to the ring by Davey Boy Smith.

Unfortunately, this would be the only tag belts that this team would win. But their legacy of producing exciting matches was already planted.

4. Rock N' Roll Express

Rick Morton and Robert Gibson were the pioneers, with the Fabulous Ones, of the "girlie" teams and the most successful.

The Express feuds with the Midnight Express and Arn Anderson & Tully Blanchard were classics.

The Express won the NWA World Tag Titles four times, defeating the Russians twice, Manny Fernandez & Rick Rude, and the Midnight Express.

Though they had much success in Memphis, JCP, AWA, and Smoky Mountain Wrestling, they only briefly competed in the WWF.

3. Fabulous Freebirds

Michael "P.S." Hayes, Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy, and Buddy "Jack" Roberts were a tag team who developed "The Freebird Rule." This rule allows any two of the three team members defend their belts, which was suppose to provide a psychological edge against their opponent.

Actually this rule was used prior to the Freebirds, but became famous by the boys from Bad Street, USA. Other teams to use this rule were the Midnight Express in SECW (with Norvell Austin), The Russians in JCP, Demolition in WWF, as well as others.

The Freebirds held various titles during the 80s, including the NWA National Tag Team Titles, NWA Mid-America Titles, Mid-South Titles, WCW United States Titles, WCW World Titles, and NWA American Titles.

They also won six-man tag titles that were won while in WCCW and WCW.

While in WCCW, the Freebirds feuded with Von Erichs which many feel is the most exciting feud in wrestling history. Of course it was good v. bad, and the Freebirds knew how to be the best heels in the business.

They were so good as heels that they were popular with many fans which was almost taboo during the good guy-bad guy era.

While in the AWA, the Freebirds brawled with the Road Warriors, proving to be one of the few teams who could stand toe to toe with the men from Chicago.

Their match at SuperClash in Comiskey Park was a classic and was cool when the Freebirds fought with the Confederate Flag painted on their face....classic!!!

2 - Steiner Brothers

Rick and Scott Steiner are one of only two tag teams to win the WWF World Tag Team Championships, WCW World Tag Team Championships, and the IWGP World Tag Team Championship in history (the other being the Dudley Boyz/Team 3D).

The team was formed in '89, when Scott Steiner became sick of the way Kevin Sullivan was treating his brother who was a member of the Varsity Club. They instantly started fighting with the Club and became an instant draw.

The Steiners defeated the Freebirds for the WCW Tag titles months held them for six months. They won the WCW United States Tag titles in '90 by defeating the Midnight Express.

The Steiner Brothers won then WWF belts by beating Money Inc in '93 but lost to them to the less-talented Quebecers.

On their return to WCW, they won the tag team belts by defeating Harlem Heat in '96, but the title change was not recognized.

They feuded with the Outsiders in '97, which was very entertaining.

The Steiner matches were known to be fast paced and very exciting. Rick would suplex and clothesline like no other wrestler and Scott's finishing maneuver, Frankensteiner, was one of the best moves ever.

1- Road Warriors w/ Paul Ellering

Was their any doubt who would rank No. 1?

They were the focal point of most organizations which they were competing, which was usually given to the singles champ.

They were popular and cheered, even when they were suppose to be heels. Next to Hulk Hogan, they were the most popular wrestlers.

The Road Warriors were first recognized in the Georgia territory in 1983 and instantly won the NWA National Tag Team titles in a tournament. They would hold these titles three times.

The next organization they dominated was the AWA. In the AWA, the Road Warriors became a household name and appeared in every wrestling magazine cover. At this time, the AWA may have been the top organization.

The Road Warriors again won the titles basically by walking through the curtains. They defeated Baron Von Raschke and The Crusher to win the World Tag Team titles.

They held those belts for over a year fighting top teams like The Fabulous Ones, Fabulous Freebirds, Sheik's Army (Bruiser Brody, Mongolian Stomper, Nord The Barbarian, and Masked Superstar), King Kong Bundy/Crusher Blackwell, and the High Flyers.

What's amazing is not how dominated the Road Warriors were in the AWA, but how and who they lost their titles.

During a match with Steven Regal and Jimmy Garvin, which seemed like a squash match on paper, the Freebirds attacked Paul Ellering. Hawk left the ring to help his manager which left Animal alone to get pinned by Garvin.

After touring in Japan after the loss, they headed to Jim Crockett Promotions to help that organization leap frog to the top.

During their first year, the Road Warriors won the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup by defeating fan favorites Magnum TA and Ronnie Garvin. They feuded with the Koloffs and performed in the match of the year by fighting the Midnight Express in a scaffold match.

In '87, they began teaming with Dusty Rhodes and Nikita Koloff which they were dubbed "The Superpowers". The Superpowers feuded with the Four Horsemen throughout the year, which included the first WarGames match...very exciting match!

In late '87, they began feuding with ultimate copycats named the Powers of Pain (Warlord and Barbarian). It started by Powers of Pain (managed by Ivan Koloff) began saying that they were the toughest and the strongest team in wrestling.

Of course this didn't sit well with the boys from Chicago. During a bench-pressing contest to settle the score, Animal was attacked as he was about to press and suffered a concussion and gash in his head.

The Powers of Pain left shortly after losing the initial battles and did not want to fight in a scaffold match.

After two years of dominating, the Road Warriors defeated the Midnight Express for the World Tag Team titles. They held the belts for six months before losing to the Varsity Club in another controversial loss.

The other major titles that the Warriors won were the WWF Tag Team titles which they held twice. They defeated The Nasty Boys in '91 and then the Godwinns in their WWF return in '97.

Aside the all the titles, the Warriors were named Tag Team of the Year four times (83-85, 88).

This team was one of a kind and will always be missed.

Below are some links to wrestling matches mentioned for your view, enjoy:

Road Warriors v. Regal/Garvin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfAWN2fqQ-o

Ric Flair v. Ted Dibiase

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qG19jjxeD8

Freebirds v. Road Warriors - SuperClash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qG19jjxeD8

Ranking The Top 50 Tag Teams: The PWI Years (19-10)

FRANK — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 06:44:45 -0400

This the third installment of listing the top tag teams that Pro Wrestling Illustrated compiled in 2003.

If you are interested, here is the first part and here is the second part.

19—The Outsiders

Nash used failed gimmicks like Oz, Vinnie Vegas, and Master Blaster Steel until reaching stardom as Shawn Michael's former bodyguard Diesel. As Diesel, Nash won the WWF World Title and was voted Wrestler of The Year.

Hall enjoyed success in the AWA teaming up with Curt Henning to hold the belts. After a brief stop in the WCW as Diamond Studd, where he briefly teamed with Nash, Hall went to the WWF to transform to a Cuban American wrestler named Razor Ramon. As Razor Ramon, Hall won the WWF IC Title four times.

In the WWF is where the friendship between the two would grow. They were members of the off-stage group name The Kliq, along with Triple H, 1-2-3 Kid and Shawn Michaels, who had great influence in the booking and would take care of their own.

Though Kevin Nash and Scott Hall were already accomplished and popular wrestlers by 1996, they were only scratching the surface.

The team left for the WCW and were instrumental in pioneering the "Invasion" storyline. The Outsider would appear on WCW programming and warn everyone that there are others who will join them in the movement. Of course, the movement was the formation of the New World Order with "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan

The Outsiders captured the WCW World Tag Team titles six times beating teams like Harlem Heat, Steiner Brothers, and Lex Luger/The Giant.

In May 1998, The Outsiders team broke up due to dissension within the nWo. After a brief reunion in late '99, the team was dissolved for good.

18—Ray Stevens & Pat Patterson

Too Too High!!! Don't deserve a spot in this list. Not sure why they qualified, since they held Tag Titles in the '60s.

I will move on....

17—Hart Foundation

This ranking is the opposite of the above. Too Too Low!!!

Hart Foundation was the ideal tag team. The Hitman was the mat technician with speed and cockiness, while The Anvil brought the power and fear. This combo led to the team winning two WWF Tag Team titles, defeating the British Bulldogs and Demolition.

The team split after losing to The Nasty Boys in WrestleMania VII, due to management seeing a successful singles competition future for Bret Hart.

16—Adrian Adonis & Dick Murdoch

Adonis and Murdoch, known as North-South Connection, were a team for a little more than a year.

They defeated Rocky Johnson and Tony Atlas in April of '84 for the WWF Tag Team Titles, which they held until January '85.

After losing the belts to Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo, the team split. Adonis of course became "Adorable" and Murdoch left WWF.

15—Midnight Rockers

Marty Jannetty and Shawn Michaels were part of the trend that wrestling adapted to with their "face" tag team. It became popular to have a team which was young, fast, and popular with the female fans. That was exactly what teams like the Rock N' Roll Express, Fantastics, Strike Force, and the Rockers achieved.

Besides those characteristics, the Rockers were very talented. Today I watch Mid-South Wrestling matches, from the early 80s, which pitted a very young Shawn Michaels fighting the top heels of the time and it is no surprise the success he has garnered through the decades.

Jannetty and Michaels first teamed together in the Kansas City region while fighting for Central States Wrestling. They won the tag titles shortly after, but only for seven days. Afterwards Michaels left the organization and this new team seemed to be over.

In '86, both wrestlers were individually signed by the AWA and were quickly booked together to form the Midnight Rockers.

After ten months of chasing and battling Doug Sommers and Buddy Rose, they finally won the titles in January of '87. They dropped the belts in May to join the WWF, which didn't last long.

Rockers won back the AWA Tag Team titles from the "Original" Midnight Express later that year.

Surprisingly this would be the last tag team belts the Rockers would hold. For some reason, they did not win the WWF Tag Titles during the three years plus they would compete against the Hart Foundation, Twin Towers, and The Brain Busters.

14—Bobby Eaton & Stan Lane

There were three different variations of Midnight Express. The original was Randy Rose and Dennis Condrey (1980-1983), then Rose was replaced by Bobby Eaton ('84-'87), and then finally Lane replaced Condrey ('87-'90).

By '87, the Midnight Express was one of the best tag teams and had been feuding with the like of the Rock N' Roll Express, Fantastics, and the Road Warriors (famous Scaffold Match at Starrcade 1986).

Despite the success, Condrey left Jim Crockett Promotions which left Eaton without a partner. The bookers decided to pair Eaton with former Fabolous One member "Sweet" Stan Lane.

Instantly the new team captured the goal by winning a tournament to award the NWA United States Tag Team Champions. They held the belts for over a year before dropping them to the Fantastics in April of 1988.

During their time together, the Midnight Express held the NWA United State Tag Titles three times and the NWA World Tag Titles once. They were also voted Tag Team of the Year in 1987 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.

13—Sgt. Slaughter & Don Kernodle

This team was rewarded the vacant NWA World Tag Titles which they held for six months when they lost it to Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood.

The team split after the loss. Kernodle turned heel and teamed with Ivan Koloff, while Slaughter went on to having a successful career with the WWF and AWA as one of the most popular wrestlers of the 80s.

In 91', the All-American Hero turned heel and joined Iron Sheik to fight the Ultimate Warrior and Hulk Hogan.

12—Fabulous Ones

Prior to fighting as a member of Midnight Express, Stan Lane teamed with Steve Kerin (aka Skinner) to formed a "playboy" teamed named the Fabolous Ones. The Ones are credited in being one of the first tag teams to aim for the female fans. They would enter in the ring with a bow tie (aka Chippendales) and suspenders to music of ZZ Top.

After winning titles in Florida, Memphis, and Texas they went to the AWA to capture the gold. Unfortunately for the Ones, there was a roadblock in their way named the Road Warriors.

During 1985, the Road Warriors and the Fabulous Ones feuding for the AWA Titles which did not change. But I have to give the Ones credit, there were many times that you thought these pretty boys were going to beat the bad arses from Chicago.

11—Von Erichs

This spot goes to the whole family. In the early '80s, World Class Wrestling was the Von Erichs. David, Kevin, Kerry, and Mike were looked upon as the Superfriends and their foes (Freebirds, Gary Hart, Jimmy Garvin, etc...) were the Legion of Doom. That philosophy held to make this organization a success.

The Von Erich family have combined for over 140 championships, mostly from the WCCW organizations.

10—Dennis Condrey & Bobby Eaton

As mentioned earlier, there were three Midnight Express teams and this one was the second.

They held the NWA World Tag Team titles, the Mid-South Tag Team titles twice and Tag Team of the Year ('86).

Aside from the titles, the feuds with the Rock N' Roll Express and the Road Warriors were classic and help to define the Midnight Express as the top team of the 80s.

I hope to have the final nine teams presented by the weekend. Thank you for the interest and patience.

Ranking the Top 50 Tag Teams: The PWI Years (34-20)

FRANK — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 13:34:54 -0400

Here's the second installment in listing the top tag teams since Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) was established (1979).

The list was compiled and ranked by PWI in 2003 and included many tag teams who fought in Japan.

I have decided to omit those teams as it would be difficult to provide any opinions.

Before continuing the list, I wanted to name four teams who I felt should have been included in this list. Not only to make the list, but in my opinion most should have been in the top 25.

The teams are The Wild Samoans, The Dream Team (Greg Valentine and Brutus Beefcake), Nikolai Volkoff & Iron Sheik, and Curt Hennig & Scott Hall.

Now on to the list...

34. Harlem Heat

The team was composed of two real brothers from Houston and not from Harlem as billed in WCW.

Harlem Heat amazingly won the WCW Tag Team titles 10 times. Some of the teams they defeated were Nasty Boys, Sting & Lex Luger, the Steiner Brothers and The Public Enemy.

PWI named Harlem Heat the Tag Team of the Year for 1995 and 1996.

33. Money Inc.

Money Inc. was the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Irwin R. Schyster (Mike Rotunda) who had gimmicks which focused on money. They also were two of the top mat technicians and were an instant hit.

Instead of putting the Natural Disasters on the contract to fight the champions, Jimmy Hart put Money Inc., who went on to beat the Legion of Doom for their first title.

After winning the titles, Money Inc. found themselves in a feud with the jealous tandem of Earthquake and Typhoon. Natural Disasters were furious that Money Inc. received the title shot and found satisfaction in July by winning the titles.

Jimmy Hart struck again in October when the Nasty Boys were a last-minute scratch in favor of Money Inc. to fight the Natural Disasters. Similar to the Disasters, the Boys were screwed by Jimmy Hart.

Money Inc. went on to win the titles with the help of the Headshrinkers.

Money Inc. was successful in fending off the numerous defenses against the angry Nasty Boys.

In early 1993, Money Inc. started feuding with the Steiners and in a week's span lost the titles, regained them, and lost them again for good.

32. Minnesota Wrecking Crew

After Lars Anderson moved to Hawaii, Gene started teaming with Ole Anderson (Alan Rogowski) to continue the Crew. Though Gene and Lars were successful during the '60s, the new and improved "Crew" dominated the tag team scene during the '70s.

Gene and Ole won the NWA Georgia Tag Team titles seven times, NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team titles three times, and the NWA World Tag Team titles seven times.

31. Demolition

I thought this team should have broken the Top 20. Yes, they were Road Warriors copycats but they did it well, wrestled well, interviewed well, and most importantly were successful.

Demolition was originally managed by Lucious Johnny Valiant and originally included Randy Culley, as Smash, who was well known as Moondog Rex. This is the reason Colley was replaced by Barry Darsow shortly after the team's debut.

Demolition won their first of three WWF Tag Titles by defeating Strike Force at WrestleMania IV and were successful in defending their titles over the next 16 months, which is the longest reign in WWF History. This was also during a period of time when the tag team division was rich with talent.

30. Jerry Lawler & "Superstar" Bill Dundee

Not sure why this team was ranked this high. When Lawler and Dundee were not teaming up to win second-rate tag belts like the AWA Southern titles, they were fighting each other.

They did win the AWA World Tag Team titles on two occasions, but it was in latter part of 1987 when the tag team division was very shallow in terms of talent.

29. Shawn Michaels & Diesel

Michaels and Nash formed a perfect team: power and speed. Michaels and Diesel won their belts in August from the Headshrinkers but by the Survivor Series were not able to function as champions. Therefore, the belts were stripped.

The two enjoyed success as singles wrestlers during 1995 and even fought each other for the WWF World Title at Wrestlemania XI. The next night, the team was united after Diesel came down to rescue Michaels from a Sid Vicious beating.

Michaels and Diesel won the tag titles again in September by defeating Yokozuna and Owen Hart. But, the very next day the result was reversed which gave the belts back to Hart and Yokozuna.

28. Jack & Jerry Brisco

The Brisco Brothers were a team who dominated the NWA tag team division during the 70s, winning 15 various Florida tag titles, twice winning the Georgia titles, and three times the Mid-Atlantic titles.

Aside from the numerous tag titles, Jack and Jerry were accomplished singles wrestlers who won various regional titles, and Jack even held the NWA World Title.

An interesting story occurred while they were in the Georgia region. The Road Warriors were offered thousands of dollars to get rid of the Briscoe Brothers because some felt they turned their backs when they sold their shares of the organization to Vince McMahon.

True or not, the sale of the share is said to be one of the main steps the WWF executed on their way to becoming national.

27. The Nasty Boys

These boys from the Penn State were legitimate tough guys who had numerous fist fights outside the ring. There are stories of fights with Ken Shamrock, Ric Flair, and the Outsiders.

Mick Foley claims, in his autobiography, that The Nasty Boys were sloppy and dangerous, but knew how to brawl.

26. Lex Luger & Sting

If you had to name who was the best young single fighters in the mid-late 80s were, Luger and Sting would have rolled off your tongue in an instant. They were outstanding young fighters, who wrestled and pushed Ric Flair for his World Title.

Of course in the 90s, these young men became the top fighters in the world and won their shares of titles.

As a team, Luger and Sting would periodically fight together.

In 1988 the friendship between these two men originated at the Jim Crockett Sr. Memorial Cup.

Days before the tournament, Luger's partner Barry Windham turned on him as they were defending their belts against Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. This led to Windham joining the Four Horsemen and Luger being without a partner for the tournament.

Luckily for Luger, Sting lost his scheduled partner, Ronnie Garvin, when he hurt himself trying to save Jimmy Garvin from an attack by Kevin Sullivan and Rick Steiner.

The two decided to team together and went on to winning the tournament by defeating Anderson and Blanchard. For years later, the two would engage in an extensive feud with the Horsemen and have a love/hate relationship with each other.

The only time Luger and Sting wore the titles was in 1996, when they defeated Harlem Heat, even though Luger was a member of Sullivan's Dungeon of Doom.

25. Ray Stevens & Greg Valentine

Another team that is ranked too high. It seems this ranking had more to do with their individual past success rather than their success together.

No doubt that Stevens and Valentine won many tag titles, but mostly with other partners. Regarding their relationship, it was short-lived.

In 1980, this team defeated Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood, for the NWA World Tag titles, and held them for two months before losing them back.

Valentine went on to feuding with his former tag partner Ric Flair and Stevens teamed up with Jimmy Snuka.

24. "Stunning" Steve Austin & "Flyin" Brian Pillman

The Hollywood Blonds were formed in January 1993. The Blonds won the WCW World Tag Team titles in March by defeating Ricky Steamboat and Shane Douglas. They lost the titles later on in the year, to Arn Anderson and Paul Roma, when Steven Regal replaced an injured Pillman.

Austin went on to joining the Stud Stable and fought Pillman when he returned from his injury.

23. Greg Gagne & "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell

The High Flyers enjoyed a number of high-profile feuds within the AWA, fighting teams like Bobby Duncum/Blackjack Lanza, Pat Patterson/Ray Stevens, The East-West Connection, and The Sheiks.

The High Flyers' success was reached when they defeated Duncum and Lanza to win the AWA World Tag Team titles. They held the titles for 15 months before they had to vacate the titles due to an injury that Jim Brunzell sustained.

During the summer of 1981, the High Flyers entered into a feud with the East-West Connection over the titles, which they won in June.

The Flyers held the titles for almost two years before dropping them to Ken Patera and Jerry Blackwell in June '83. Though the Flyers came close to regaining the titles on several occasions, they never recaptured them.

The team split to wrestle in single competition and then Brunzell left to form the Killer Bees in the WWF.

22. U.S. Express

During the early to mid-80s, it felt like every organization had a team named Express. There was the Midnight Express, Rock N' Roll Express, and Lightning Express (Tim Horner & Brad Armstrong).

So it was only fitting that a young team of Barry Windham and Mike Rotunda would be dubbed the U.S. Express. The U.S. was because they were feuding with Nikolai Volkoff and Iron Sheik for the WWF World Tag Titles.

Prior to the mentioned feud, the Express won the titles in January of '85 by defeating Dick Murdoch and Adrian Adonis.

After exchanging titles with Volkoff and Sheik during '85, they lost them for good to The Dream Team (Beefcake and Valentine) in September.

The team split due to Windham returning to Florida and was replaced by Dan Spivey.

21. New Age Outlaws (Billy Gunn & Road Dogg)

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls, Children of all ages: D-Generation X proudly brings to you its WWF TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS OF THE WOOORLD! The Road Dogg Jesse James, The Bad Ass Billy Gunn, The New Age Outlaws!"

"... and if you're not down with that, we've got two words for ya! SUCK IT!"

The New Age Outlaws were an extremely popular team in the late 1990s and had the third highest merchandise sales in the WWF as members of DX.

In 1997, the Outlaws defeated the Legion of Doom to win the WWF World Tag Team titles. They would lose the titles twice, first to Mick Foley and Terry Funk and then to Kane and Mankind, but quickly regained them.

After declining to join Vince McMahon's Corporation, they would lose the title to Ken Shamrock and Big Bossman who were members.

20) Jimmy Snuka & Ray Stevens

This is another case of Stevens being on the list because of his successful career, rather than the success of this tandem.

Snuka and Stevens defeated Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood in June of 1980, to win the NWA World Tag Team titles, but lost the belts to Paul Jones and Masked Superstar in November.

They did win Tag Team of the Year for their success in 1980, but the relationship ended shortly after as Stevens started teaming with Ivan Koloff.

I will have the final installments during the week and appreciate everyone's interest in the articles.

Ranking The Top 50 Tag Teams: The PWI Years (50-35)

FRANK — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 08:38:36 -0400

In 2003, Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) compiled a list of the top 100 tag teams during the "PWI Years", which originated in 1979.

For some uncanny reason, approximately 40 percent of the teams on the list competed mostly in Japan, including ten of PWI's top 20 teams.

I decided to only list the teams which wrestled in North America.

Below are the top 50 tag teams that competed in North America in the order listed by PWI.

50 - Moondogs

Though they won the WWF Tag Title in 1981, Spot and Rex quickly became a team who's role was to enhance the young tag teams (e.g. British Bulldogs, US Express, Killer Bees) that were entering the WWF in mid-1980s.

They did obtain success after their stay in the WWF while competing in USWA. The Moondogs won the USWA tag titles fourteen times and participated in a long feud with Jeff Jarrett and Jerry Lawyler, which was named Feud of the Year by PWI for 1992.

For those who don't know, Randy Colley (Rex) was the original Demolition Smash, but was quickly replaced by Barry Darsow.

49 - Robert Fuller and Jimmy Golden

This is one of the tag teams which I don't agree should have made the list. They never made any impact in the "Big Three" and the tag titles they held were not even from popular regional organizations, like Mid-South, Florida and Georgia.

48 - Ole and Arn Anderson

Martin Lunde competed as Super Olympia before joining Jim Crockett's Mid-Atlantic organization to become Arn Anderson and re-create the Minnesota Wrecking Crew with Ole Anderson. The team went on to win the Georgia's NWA National Title in 1985.

The funny thing about Martin Lunde becoming an Anderson is that Ole Anderson's real name is Alan Rogowski. Earlier in his career he too was kayfabe into becoming an Anderson to fiight with Gene Anderson after Lars Anderson left Mid-Atlantic.

47 - Jerry Lawler and Jeff Jarrett

This team held the USWA Tag Titles four different times and, as mentioned earlier, was part of the biggest feud in the early 90s against the Moondogs.

46 - Masked Superstar and Super Deystroyer

Though they beat the Armstrongs to win the NWA National Tag Title, this team does not deserve to be on this list. They simply did not fight together long enough to be credited with a top 50 spot.

Masked Superstar went on to become Demolition Ax in the WWF and Super Deystroyer became Scott Irwin after taking their masks off.

Masked Superstar is credited for being the first to bodyslam Andre The Giant.

45 - Dusty Rhodes and Magnum TA

This team had some success together in Florida but would become a major force in Jim Crockett Production.

In 1983, Magnum TA and Midnight Rider defeated the Fabolous Kangaroos to win the NWA Florida Global Tag Title. This was a minor title which only existed for one year.

In 1985, "America's Team" formed again to fight the Four Horsemen and the Russians in JCP. It was one of the more dominant tag teams in the promotion until 1986, when Magnum's career was ended in a car wreck.

44 - Ken Patera and Jerry Blackwell

Prior to becoming a fan favorite, Blackwell was part of Sheik Adnan-Al Kaissie's Army and teamed with Patera to form The Sheiks.

The Sheiks feuded with Verne Gagne, as well as The High Flyers (Greg Gagne and "Jumpin" Jim Brunzell) over the AWA Tag Team Titles. The Sheiks beat the High Flyers for the tag team titles and remained champions eleven months before being dethroned by The Crusher and Baron Von Raschke.

43 - Rick Martel and Tony Garea

Garea won the WWWF/WWF World Tag Titles five times with four different partners (Haystacks Calhoun, Dean Ho, Larry Zbyszko, and Rick Martel [twice]).

Teaming up Martel was Garea's most successful, and most popular tag team. They defeated the Wild Samoans in 1980 and then regained the belts from the Moondogs in 1981. They lost the belts for good in the fall of '81 to Mr. Saito and Mr. Fuji.

In 1982, Martel left for the AWA to win its World Title and Garea became an enhancement jobber for the up-and-coming stars.

42 - Heavenly Bodies

There were different variations of the team, which consisted of Tom Pritchard, Stan Lane, and Jimmy Del Ray. The team was led by Jim Cornette.

In 1992, Tom Pritchard and Stane Lane were the first to form the team in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW), winning the tag titles five different times.

Their major feuds were with The Fantastics and Rock N' Roll Express.

After Lane left the team and was replaced by Jimmy Del Ray, the team competed in the WWF, ECW, and USWA which saw them continue their feud with the RnR Express and create a new feud with the Smoking Gunns.

The new variation won SMW Tag Titles on three occasions, and won the USWA Tag Titles once.

The team disbanded after SMW went out of business in 1995.

41 - Arn Anderson and Bobby Eaton

This is the second of three times that Arn Anderson will appear and the first of three for Bobby Eaton.

As members of Paul Heyman's Dangerous Alliance, Eaton and Anderson defeated Ricky Steamboat and Dustin Rhodes to win the WCW World Tag Titles.

These two guys were naturals and wrestled together as if they were partners for years.

40 - Sheepherders (Bushwhackers)

This team's debut was in 1964, when they were known as the Kiwi Sheepherders.

The Sheepherders initially fought in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Canada and won the region's tag titles during the '70s.

In 1981, the Sheepherders were brought to South Eastern Championship Wrestling to compete against the Fuller Family. For over a year, the Sheepherders would defeat all tag teams which Robert Fuller threw at them.

After leaving in 1982, the Sheepherders would compete in one region after another, making a name of themselves as one of the toughest teams at that time and continued to win title after title.

In 1989, the Sheepherders became the Bushwhackers and debut in the WWF as idiots who would lick their partner's heads. The Bushwhackers became one of the most popular tag teams during the '90s but were not able to win the tag titles.

I actually chose them to be on the list of wrestling stars who the WWF ruined with their gimmicks (e.g. Dusty Rhodes and Terry Taylor).

39 - Strike Force

The team formed after Tito Santana, who was doing commentary in the Spanish broadcast booth, helped Rick Martel fight off the Islanders. They feuded with the Islanders until they received a shot at the World Tag Team title, which they won by beating the Hart Foundation.

They held the belts for approximately five months, before losing them to Demolition in Wrestlemania IV with the help of Fuji's cane.

38 - East-West Connection

The "connection" were Adrian Adonis and Jesse Ventura, who held the AWA World Tag Titles for nearly a year in the early '80s. Their main feud was with Greg Gagne and Jim Brunzell who defeated them to win the titles.

After losing the titles, the duo moved to the WWF. They were not able to win the tag belts but became single contenders to Bob Backlund's title.

37 - Chris Adams and Gino Hernandez

Aside from the Von Erich, these to men were the most important wrestlers in World Class. They were know as The Dynamic Duo.

Prior to Brutus Beefcake, the "Duo" were known to cut the hairs of its opponents.

WCCW reaped many rewards from the Dynamic Duo feud with the Von Erichs.

Unfortunately, tragedy struck and Gino Hernandez died after overdosing on cocaine. Though known to be a heavy user, people believe foul play was involved.

36 - Ivan and Nikita Koloff

The former WWWF (defeated Sammartino in '71) was instrumental in training and enhancing his "nephew" Nikita Koloff into becoming a popular star in JCP.

They captured the NWA Tag Titles by defeating Dusty Rhodes and Manny Fernandez in early-'85. Afterwards, they entered into a feud with the Rock N' Roll Express which they lost the titles to later on in the year.

In '86, Nikita turned on his "uncle" and allied himself with Dusty Rhodes. This led to a feud between the Koloffs, which Ivan would partner himself with various heels to fight the new team of Koloff/Rhodes.

35 - Fantastics

This is a team I would have placed much higher. Looking at the list, I would have placed them in the top 20.

Bobby Fulton and Tommy Rogers were extremely popular and successful in all the organizations they fought in.

Their first tag titles were won in their rookie years of 1984 by defeating the Long Riders (Bill and Scott Irwin) for the WCCW (World Class) belts.

In 1986, they defeated the Sheepherders to win the UWF belts. They would continue to feud with the Sheepherders and against Eddie Gilbert's Hot Stuff, Inc during the year.

They swapped titles with Gilbert and Sting during their feud, but lost the titles for good to the other team in the Stuff, Inc. Jack Victory and John Tatum.

They returned to Texas, in 1987, to win the WCWA belts and engage in a feud with the Rock N' Roll RPM (Mike Davis and Tommy Lane) in a scaffold match.

In 1988, the Fantastics joined Jim Crockett Promotions and continued their feud with the Midnight Express, which started in their rookie year in Texas. This feud was voted the best of the year by PWI.

The two teams exchanged the NWA United States Tag Titles during this feud.

In 1989, the team left the NWA and Rogers went to Japan while Fulton continued wrestling under the Fantastics name with his brother Jackie. This team was underrated, despite accomplishing so much in a short time.

I will continue the list shortly and appreciate your interest.

The Great Mind Behind ECW: Paul Heyman

FRANK — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:32:44 -0400

I just finished watching the The Rise and Fall of ECW and wanted to write an article about this organization and the impact it had in Pro Wrestling during the 1990s. But I wanted to write an article that wasn't soley a review of the DVD.

I decided to take a Project Management approach to this article, as if I was Paul Heyman and wanted to sell my ideas to Todd Gordon (owner of NWA Eastern Championship Wrestling).

I'm going to use the SMART objective approach to present Paul's ideas and business case.

S(specific,significant)-M(measurable,manageable)-A(achievable, attainable)-R(relevant, rewarding)-T(time frame, timely)

S—Paul felt that wrestling became too stale and predictable. He wanted to orchestrate a change in wrestling equivalent to the way Nirvana led the way in impacting the music industry in the early '90s.

Both of the major organizations (WCW and WWF) were catering to the elementary school kids with their PG product, similar to the WWE today, which left a huge void that Paul wanted to fill with the 18-34 age group. He wanted to create characters and present matches that would be different and edgy.

Paul felt that he can take the current regional organization, based out of Pennsylvania, national and compete against the two major players.

M—To keep track of the success, Paul would keep track of the increase of fans who attended the house shows around the Philly area and increase the amount of weekly shows to six. This would help to generate needed revenue and get the product out to the masses. To maximize products, Paul presented unknown and up-and-coming wrestlers who did not require high salaries.

A—To achieve success, pay-per-view shows and television contracts would be essential. This would allow the organization to generate the needed funds to pay for talent to compete and reach out to fans across the nation and perhaps globally.

R—Once the goals were achieved, the two men would be as rich as Ted Turner and Vince McMahon. Jets, caviar, and champagne would be in line for these men.

The industry would be different than the current stale products. Extreme wrestling would be the new wave.

T—Paul probably set a time frame of 5-10 years to accomplish his goals. Figuring it would take 2-3 years to expand the product and then shortly after gain the necessary investment backing required to continue success into the next millennium.

The first step in the movement was to break the ECW ties with the NWA. The NWA was the face of the wrestling that they wanted to change from. Wrestlers like Harley Race, Ric Flair, and the "fat man" Dusty Rhodes were considered "old school" and as Paul said "old school wasn't hip anymore".

The separation occurred shortly after Shane Douglas, who just beat 2 Cold Scorpio in a title tournament, threw down the NWA World Title and nominated himself as the ECW Heavyweight Champion of the World. This was a surprise to everyone in wrestling except Todd, Paul, and Shane. This move infuriated the NWA board and may have led to Shane being buried in TNA.

Next up was creating interested matches which would appeal to the target age group, who wanted to see pain, suffering, and most importantly blood.

ECW was known for making popular several types of matches, including the Barbed wire match, flaming tables, and Singapore Cane match.

The most famous Barbed wire match was between Sabu and Terry Funk. A missed move by Sabu caused him to get tangled in the barbed wires which caused a gash so big that it required 100 stitches to close.

Flaming tables was the trademark of the Dudley Brothers. They would basically ignite a table on fire to use during a match.

Singapore Cane match was the trademark of Sandman who would use the cane as a weapon. The idea for this type of match was due to a real event that took place during this time. An American boy's punishment for graffiti was to be caned by the Singapore authority.

This match was made famous during the Sandman-Tommy Dreamer feud. The loser of the match was to be caned by the winner. Dreamer lost and as a trooper, welcomed the caning by Sandman. The caning caused his back to tear and bleed but stood face to face with Sandman afterwards as a sign of strength.

These types of matches were fan favorites and help to settle or ignite feuds.

Aside from these matches, there were cards that were dubbed "Bring Your Weapon Night". Fans were able to bring any weapon to the arena which was used by the wrestlers. This was also very popular with the fans.

Since the funds were limited, Paul was a magician in getting the most out of the talent he had. He was known for developing and pushing characters that probably wouldn't have succeeded with WWF or WCW. Some of these wrestlers were Sabu, Sandman, Dudley Brothers, Tazz, Raven and Tommy Dreamer.

As ECW gained recognition and popularity, some established wrestlers made their way to Philly to compete. These wrestlers included Chris Jericho, Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, Dean Malenko, Bam Bam Bigelow, Cactus Jack and Terry Funk.

Paul had the ability to maximize the positives that ECW maintained, while minimizing and hiding their flaws (e.g. lack of theatrics).

By 1996, the expansion of fans who attended house shows at the ECW arena included people from NY, NJ, Maryland, and Washington DC due to the exposure on local sports channels in Philly and MSG in NY. Since the shows were aired after midnight, there were no FCC scrutiny and editing was not required to air.

In 1997, ECW was on track to compete against the "Big Two". Their first pay-per-view occurred in April and was a success. Until 1999, string of PPV cards were produced by ECW.

It was becoming clear that the objectives set by Paul Heyman in 1992 was being met. The sky was the limit. ECW was changing the wrestling world. The Big Two were adapting to the success and change in the industry heading into 1999.

WWE started their "Attitude Era" due to the growing success of ECW. Steve Austin would walk down the aisle drinking beer and giving everyone the middle finger. Race factions were created. Sexual exploits were more common.

Like everything else, what goes up...must come down. That is exactly what began to happen in 1999.

ECW was finally going to go national. They just signed a three year contract with TNN.

Unfortunately that contract was the beginning of the end. Paul found himself getting a low budget and no advertising from TNN. To top it off, TNN was looking to give WWF $100 million to sign, due to the success of ECW on their channel.

After struggling to get out of the bad contract, months after signing, ECW found themselves without any exposure or financial backing in late 2000.

No television company was willing to take a chance on ECW, due to the legal risk and fear that advertisers would bail from them.

This led to the bankruptcy filing in April 2001 and finally the sale to Vince McMahon.

Paul Heyman deserves to be credited as one of the great innovators in wrestling history. After years working for Pro Wrestling Illustrated and then as a booker/manager for AWA and WCW, he identified an opportunity and grabbed it.

Though he failed as many before him, he was able to taste success and sustain popularity for multiple years. This can be an eternity when talking about wrestling.

One thing that was picked up in the DVD was that Paul Heyman thought of ECW as his baby and many people felt secured with him. Many wrestlers worked with Paul for years as they struggled to gain popularity and income. He received respect and treated his workers well. Even with debts owed to many of these wrestlers, there opinions of Paul were positive.

Perhaps, there is an organization or person who is looking to make a change to this industry like Paul did or Vince did in the 1980s. As wrestling is constantly evolving, there is hope that the wrestling product we see today will change for the better.

The Great Raid: How the WWF Took Over Wrestling (Part II)

FRANK — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:41:30 -0400

The first installment focused on laying down the foundation by providing high level details of the state of wrestling in 1983 and before.

This installment will focus on the remaining years of the 1980s and the consolidation of approximately two dozen organizations to two as wrestling hit the 90s.

Wrestlemania and Survivor Series

The success of Jim Crockett's Thanksgiving "supercard," Starrcade, raised the bar and competition that Vince McMahon was ready to battle. He was ready to bet the farm on Wrestlemania to offset this NWA success.

In '85, Wrestlemania took place in Madison Square Garden and featured the main event of Hulk Hogan and Mr T. fighting Rowdy Roddy Piper and Paul Orndorff. Jimmy Snuka and Cowboy Bob Orton was in the respective corners.

Wrestlemania was a financial and critical success which secured the company's status as the most successful promotion in the United States.

Though both Starrcade and Wrestlemania would be able to share in the wealth, McMahon was looking to place his foot on the competition's throat.

In '87, Pay-Per-View was becoming popular and was rightfully visioned as a vehicle to spread the product. The WWF created Survivor Series to directly compete against JCP's successful Thanksgiving card Starrcade.

To ensure that Survivor Series would profit and win, McMahon forced the PPV company to air Survivor Series if they wanted to keep the Wrestlemania shows.

Since technology was limited during this time, the PPV company was only able to air one of the cards. Of course the WWF won because McMahon was able to flex his power.

NWA had no choice but to move their annual Thanksgiving card to the end of December if they were to compete.

Cable Television and Regional Organization

The WWF always had the upper hand due to their national exposure on TV. Matches were aired on the MSG channel, network television (who remembers the numerous Wrestling shows on Saturday morning which featured jobbers fighting against the stars), and on late night TV with their Saturday Night Main Event shows on NBC.

To compete with this exposure, various regional organizations implemented plans to go national via cable television.

JCP bought slots on TBS and began buying out some of the smaller territories like St.Louis and Florida.

ESPN began airing shows of the Pro Wrestling USA promotion (NWA and AWA merger) in the mid-80s and then eventually just AWA after the split. These shows were a hit for ESPN and the business relationship continued until AWA's last days in '91.

Please begin watching these AWA shows on ESPN classic if you have not. You will not be disappointed with the quality.

I remember these days very well. Being a fan from New York, I was able to watch various organizations from California to the Carolinas via syndicate television. Seeing wrestlers who I only knew from the various magazines that I read monthly.

Even though the program was on a UHF channel, therefore the quality was terrible, it was the best shows on television.

Most of the cards had squash matches like the WWF but also featured a main event match which was so exciting that you couldn't wait for the next program.

The schedule was the following:

Monday and Wednesday: Jim Crockett Promotions, which featured the great feud between the Four Horsemen and the Superpowers (Dusty Rhodes, Magnum TA, Nikita Koloff, etc...)

Tuesday and Thursday: WCCW, which featured the Von Erichs feuding against Gary Hart's stable, Gino Hernandez and Chris Adams

Friday: California Wrestling which my recollection of this organization is next to nil...sorry

and on Saturday...Universal Wrestling Federation which featured great talent like Terry Taylor, Eddie Gilbert, Steve Dr. Death Williams, Sting, Fantastics, and the Freebirds. The UWF program featured no squash matches and was the most execited program of the week.

On WPIX-TV, AWA wrestling was shown every Saturday afternoon. The matches and format was similar to the cards on ESPN. Road Warriors, Curt Hennig, Scott Hall, Jerry Blackwell, Stan Hansen, and Sheik al-Adnan Kaissie's army were some of the main attractions.

Unlike the WWF programs, these programs featured some quality matches and needed to be if these organizations were going to compete against the mighty WWF.

Roster Raid and Organization Mergers

It became very clear to many organizations that the only way to compete with the WWF was to merge with other organizations, especially since their rosters were depleting due to the mass exodus of talent that was heading Vince's way.

After Hogan signed with WWF, talent after talent left to join him from the AWA. The initial wrestlers to fled were Ken Patera, Jumping Jim Brunzell, Adrian Adonis, and Jesse Ventura. Other personalities who left were Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and "Mean" Gene Okerlund.

The NWA was also susceptible to the raiding. Roddy Piper, Greg Valentine, the Briscos, Ricky Steamboat, and Bob Orton left for greener pastures.

The wrestlers above were critical to Vince in moving forward. They were experienced and, for the most part, unknown to the WWF fans. Most of them came over with successful gimmicks which were hits with the fans of the Northeast.

In '85, the NWA and AWA combined talent to compete with the growing power of the WWF. Their formation concluded with a successful card named Superclash which was held in Comiskey Park in front of 21,000 fans.

The feature matches were Rick Martel defending the AWA Title against Stan Hansen, Road Warriors fighting the Freebirds, and the main event was Ric Flair v. Magnum T.A. for the the NWA Title.

I suggest trying to get your hands on this cassette or YouTube the matches. It was better than Wrestlemania.

Unfortunately for these organizations, the union was short as Verne Gagne accused David Crockett of trying to sign the AWA wrestlers away.

Who knows! But it was another win for the WWF as they would have no problem taking apart these organizations individually. With them combined, it would have been a tougher challenge and only one can wonder if history would have been different.

AWA would form another alliance with the WCCW and CWA (Jerry Lawler's organization) in 1988. Though the alliance lasted longer than with the NWA, the talent was not up to par and their were too many egos involved (Lawler, Gagne, and Fritz Von Erich).

AWA and JCP were not the only organization raped. Mid-South Wrestling was also in the path of the wrath.

By 1980, Mid-South Wrestling was one of the best managed organization. Bill Watts had a great way to promote the good v. bad guy angles. He was also excellent in hitting the fans' Patriotic nerve by using the Russia v. US angle. This occurred way before NWA used the Koloffs and WWF used Volkoff/Iron Sheik to fulfill the same angle.

By the 1986, Watts too was feeling the heat from McMahon's invasion. He watched as main stars like Junkyard Dog, King Kong Bundy, Ted DiBiase, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Kamala, Dick Murdoch, Butch Reed, Jake Roberts, The Sheepherders (Bushwhackers), and others left for the WWF. Watts probably was hit the hardest with the raid.

But, Watts still had fight in him and was not ready to go down.

Watts basically went bankrupt trying to take his organization national, which was now called Universal Wrestling Federation. To go national he spent a lot of money to sign the Freebirds and for the most part, as mentioned above, it was the best wrestling going on in '86. This was saying a lot because wrestling was booming during this time.

Unfortunately, the local oil economy in the South went into a quick recession in late '86 and many fans were not able to spend money on entertainment.

With the debt rising and less cash flow coming in, Watts sold his UWF organization to Jim Crockett Promotions. This was another organization JCP bought to compete with the WWF.

AWA Closes Its Doors

After failing to grow with the failed mergers, Verne Gagne was losing steam and wrestlers in the late 80s.

Though he was still developing some young talent, they were quicker to leave once they gain some recognition. Some of these talents were the Destruction Crew (Beverly Brothers), Kokina Maximus (Yokuzuna), Leon White (Big Vader), the Rockers, Tom Zenk, Scott Hall, and the Nasty Boys.

In '89, Gagne basically backed away from the day-to-day operation and let Eric Bischoff run the organization.

Bischoff has been mentioned as the idea behind the fateful Team Challenge Series. This series pitted three teams, made up of the remaining roster, who competed in various types of matches to split $1 million. This was a serious flop and basically accelerated the fate of the AWA.

By 1991, matches were taped in a empty room without any fans in order to fulfill their television obligations.

What an unfortunate way for a classy organization to end. I blame Verne Gagne's ego and stupidity. But there was probably no way the AWA would have competed against the WWF.

Jim Crockett Sells

Jim Crockett started to feel the pressure to sell as his bankroll could not compete with the WWF. At this time the WWF was promoting four PPV events, and the money was coming into Vince's pocket by the truckload.

Crockett sold his shares to Ted Turner in 1988 and the World Championship Wrestling organization was formed.

There was only two organization left heading to the next millennium, though ECW was gaining some recognition.

AOL - TimeWarner Merger

Wrestling was at its apex when the NWO angle occurred. This angle brought the best out of both organizations during the Monday Night War. Though the NWO angle was becoming stale in 2000, I have no doubt that WCW would have continued with their success.

Unfortunately, Time Warner merged with AOL. AOL deemed wrestling different from their image and basically gave McMahon the sport and the win.

Vince McMahon was and is the lone man on the mountain. Though it must be lonely on top.

I often wonder what wrestling would be today, if some of the events mentioned did not occur.

I hope that some memories were restored with this article and the younger readers gained some curiosity in experiencing wrestling boom that occurred in the mid-80s.

I suggest watching some videos on YouTube or the WWE produced DVD of this era.

It was a pleasure to live through these times and know that wrestling will continue to prosper in the future.

The Great Raid: How The WWF Took Over Wrestling (Part I)

FRANK — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 11:56:19 -0400

In 1983, Vincent J. McMahon sold his company to his son Vincent K. McMahon who was ready to take the company to next level. No one knew that this transaction was the beginning of the collapse of competitive wrestling. Wrestling as people knew it would begin to change forever.

For over 50 years, most wrestling organizations fell under the NWA umbrella. Think of the NWA as the Mafia Commission. Each regional organization (Georgia, Florida, Pacific Northwest, Mid-Atlantic, Mid-South, etc...) had a member (top booker) who sat on the NWA board to decide who should hold the NWA World Title and discuss where they should fight next. Just like the Mafia, no organization booked cards in another member's territory and any disputes were resolved within the NWA board.

Prior to cable tv, pay-per-views, and computers, the only way a fan can see a top fighter was when they fought in their local region. So it was important to have a talented fighter who was charismatic to draw the crowds across the nation. It was common for "super" cards to include wrestlers from other territories to drive up the interest.

Disputes on who should hold the title concluded with the WWWF (World Wide Wrestling Federation) and then the AWA leaving the NWA in the 60s. Even though these two organizations broke away, they continued to follow the rules and would not book outside their territory and would respect the other organization rosters.

In 1983, the top competition to the WWF were the AWA and Jim Crockett Productions. Their rosters were filled with talented and entertaining personalities who created fantastic cards, matches, and storylines. Other top organizations, at this time, that should be mentioned were WCCW in Texas and Mid-South (changed to UWF in 1986).

The following events help to assure WWF domination.

Verne Gagne's stubborness and lack of vision

There's no doubt that Verne Gagne was a terrific fighter and visionary in the 60s and 70s. But as the eighties approached, he was too stubborn to move forward and allow other top wrestlers to fight in the main events and be the "face" of the organization.

Case in point was with Hulk Hogan.

The AWA popularity extremely grew when Hulk Hogan appeared in Rocky III as Thunderlips. Gagne refused to make him the AWA World Heavyweight Champion. Even though the popularity was witnessed from the fans and his charismatic personality would have been an asset as the "face" of the organization, Gagne believed the champ should be the best technical wrestler (e.g. Nick Bockwinkel) in the organization.

Gagne felt that teasing the fans with near pinfalls over then champ Bockwinkel was the reason for the popularity more so than Hogan himself. Eventually the fans grew tired of the constant biased endings and voice their dismay during future cards.

Signing the future WWF champion Hulk Hogan

As mentioned above, each organization respected each others roster which was respected by Vincent SR. But, Vincent JR. had other ideas and felt the "rules" were not made for him to obey. Besides Vincent K. McMahon had great plans for the WWF and needed top wrestlers to execute these plans.

First and foremost was hiring a "face" of the organization who will take them to the next level. Unlike Gagne, McMahon visioned Hogan to fill this role and knew that the traditional technical wrestling was becoming stale.

Watching Bob Backlund defend his belt was like watching paint dry. Headlock, headlock and more headlock was boring and McMahon knew this.

After being frustrated with the lack of respect from Gagne and the constant nepotism showed by pushing Greg for a title run, Hogan signed with the WWF in December 1983.

One month later, Hogan will break the camel clutch and defeat Iron Sheik for the WWF World Title.

Some dub Jan. 24, 1984 the day wrestling died.

I have decided to break this up to different parts as there are just too much details to provide.

I will continue with the roster raids, WrestleMania, and the end of some terrific regional organizations which consolidate the wrestling world by 1988.

I hope you enjoy and will continue to read the other parts.

Thank you,

The Top 10 Hitting Seasons in Phillies History

FRANK — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:28:04 -0400

Though the Phillies organization goes back to 1883, when they were known as the Quakers, we will only go back to 1929 to identify the top hitting seasons in Phillies history. Please note that a player will only appear on this list once. During this span the franchise has not been short in outstanding hitters, especially compared to their rotations. The contrast would not be more apparent than 1929 and 1930. The Phillies scored 897 and 944 , respectively, but lost 82 and 102 games during those two years. It should be mentioned that the team scored more than 800 runs from 2004 through 2007 and was one run shy of reaching that mark this year. Now to the list...

Begin Slideshow

The Top 10 Hitting Seasons in Mets History

FRANK — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:53:27 -0400

This slide show will rank the best hitting seasons in Mets history. Similar to the previous article, which listed the best pitching seasons, a player will only be ranked once. When you think of the Mets history, pitching is usually the dominated vision. But the Mets have had their share of outstanding hitting seasons, which is why it was difficult to rank these seasons. I would say that any of the top 5 ranked players can is fitting to be #1. Now on to the list...

Begin Slideshow

We Are Family: Ranking the Top Stables of the 20th Century

FRANK — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 23:40:16 -0400

Stables is a group of wrestlers within a promotion who have a common element (friendships, a common manager, or a common storyline) Stables can be small alliances of three to six wrestlers or supergroups that include up to half the promotion's talent roster. Most stables were guided by a manager and/or valet. Managers were basically used to help promote wrestlers who may have lacked talent speaking or a gimmick. Most of the time the manager played a tremendous role in their wrestler's matches, helping to add another dimension to the match and the storyline. We are going to list the best stables assembled between 1980 and 2000. Sorry for the blurry images. I feel you will still enjoy the list.

Begin Slideshow

Take Your Money And Shove It: Wrestlers Who Never Fought In WWF/E

FRANK — Thu, 28 May 2009 22:40:29 -0400

It was so common to have wrestlers fight in all three major organization during their career (AWA, NWA, WWE). Most of the time the wrestler would start in an independent or regional circuit and then work themselves up to the NWA and AWA. Then as shown in the 80s, Vince McMahon would steal the popular wrestlers by offering large amounts of dough. But there are some cases where accomplished wrestlers, who were well known and popular, turned down the offers for various reason. This slide show will list ten wrestlers or tag teams who did not wrestle for Vince.

Begin Slideshow

Who Had the Best Season: Ranking the NY Mets' Pitchers

FRANK — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:36:03 -0400

Since the 1960s, the Mets pitching staff usually stands out as one of the best in baseball. Not sure why we never experience a no hitter! But that's another story. In the 60s & 70s, Seaver and Koosman reigned surpremed at Shea. Followed by Gooden, Darling, Leiter, and now Santana. This slide show will rank the best pitching seasons in Mets history. This show is not meant rank the pitchers who pitched the best over their career with the Mets. We are only ranking their best seasons. Also, a pitcher will only appear on this list once. If not, Seaver and Gooden would make up 50 - 60% of the list. The rankings will list the top 10 starters and top 5 relievers. I hope to hear your opinions.

Begin Slideshow

Listen Up, This Is a Robbery: MLB's 16 Most Lopsided Trades of the '80s

FRANK — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:09:11 -0400

This is the third and final article relating to ranking the decade's most lopsided trades.

I'm proud to say that the first two articles (21st century and 1990s) were successful in terms of reader contribution. I appreciate the interest.

I hope everyone will enjoy this list and will provide their opinions.

In the three decades that I have been closely watching baseball, the 1980s is my favorite. It's probably due to the playing style (pitching, speed, and fielding), competitiveness (small market and big market payroll disparities weren't as wide), and the fact that in the summer I would play baseball from dawn to dusk.

Those were some good times!

The '80s also outpaced the other two decades in lopsided trades. Since initially identifying over 25 lopsided trades, I decided to increase the list from 12 to 16. It was too difficult to limit it to the dirty dozen mark.

So here it goes...

16. Kansas City Royals traded David Cone and Chris Jelic to the NY Mets for Rick Anderson, Mauro Gozzo, and Ed Hearn (Mar. '87)

Not totally sure why the Royals wanted to trade for these three guys, except they may have been looking for a catcher to take over Jim Sundberg's spot.

Instead, they received a backup catcher who didn't hit a home run and played in a total of 13 games for them. The other two parts of the trade won a total of three games, all by Anderson.

After going 5-6 in '87, Cone went on to win 20, 14, 14, 14, and 13 games the other four-plus seasons. Cone was then traded to the Blue Jays for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson at the trade deadline in 1992.

15. Texas Rangers traded Ron Darling and Walt Terrell to the NY Mets for Lee Mazzilli (Apr. '82)

For a team that never had pitching to match their hitting, they have let a lot of successful throwers get away through the decades.

The Rangers traded their top draft pick in 1981 and Terrell for Lee Mazzilli, who only played 58 games before they traded him to the Yankees for Bucky Dent.

Walt Terrell won 19 games for the Mets before being traded to the Tigers for Howard Johnson.

Ron Darling compiled 99 wins and 25 complete games during his eight seasons as a Met.

14. Los Angeles Dodgers traded Juan Guzman to the Toronto Blue Jays for Mike Sharperson (Sept. '87)

The Dodgers obviously didn't know what talent they had in the minors when they decided to trade Guzman for the platoon player with limited pop (averaged less than two HR per year).

Guzman won 76 games during his seven-plus seasons. He was also a major contributor to the back-to-back championships in 1992-93, winning 30 games during those two years.

13. Oakland A's traded Rod Beck to the San Francisco Giants for Charlie Corbell (Mar. '88)

The Giants struck gold when they acquired the three-time future All-Star for a career minor leaguer from their Bay Area rivals. Beck saved 199 games during his seven years as a Giant, including 48 in 1993.

12. St. Louis Cardinals traded Keith Hernandez to the NY Mets for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey (Jun. '83)

You may have started to notice that the Mets were very active during this decade. There are five trades on this list that the Mets were involved in. This happens to be another trade that the Mets won hands down.

The Cardinals made this trade because they felt that Hernandez was a cancer in the clubhouse.

Instead, Keith Hernandez instantly changed the Met team by bringing his leadership, playoff experience, outstanding defense, and clutch hitting over from their future rivals.

Hernandez won five Gold Gloves out of his seven years as a Met. He also finished in the top 10 in the MVP ballot three times.

As for the Cardinals, they received a reliever who ended up with a record of 20-16 during his Cardinal tenure.

11. NY Mets traded Mike Scott to the Houston Astros for Danny Heep (Dec. '82)

At the time of the trade, Scott had compiled a 14-27 record since his '79 debut. His next two seasons with the Astros were uneventful, struggling for a record of 15-17.

Things would change in a "split" of a second.

Actually, Scott was taught the split-finger fastball by Roger Craig and won 18 games in 1985. He would follow his breakout season with a Cy Young award, winning an additional 18 games and striking out 306 batters with a microscopic ERA of 2.22.

The former second round pick Heep was never more than a fourth outfielder for the Mets over his four seasons in Queens.

10. NY Mets traded Jeff Reardon and Dan Norman to the Montreal Expos for Ellis Valentine (May '81)

Prior to the Scott trade, the Mets traded another future star away for a player who was past his prime at the young age of 26.

Valentine brought pop to the Mets, hitting 20 or more HR three times for Montreal, but that must not have passed Customs.

Actually, Valentine matched his numbers that he produced in his last full season with the Expos, hitting a combined 13 HR over two years as a member of the Mets. He left to the Angels as a free agent after the '82 season.

Jeff Reardon would become an All-Star closer with the Expos and win the Fireman of the Decade Award.

9. NY Yankees traded Fred McGriff, Mike Morgan, Dave Collins, and cash to the Toronto Blue Jays for Tom Dodd and Dale Murray (Dec. '82)

With Don Mattingly prospering at first base, the NY Yankees decided to trade future Hall of Famer Fred McGriff to the Blue Jays.

McGriff averaged 31 HR with the Blue Jays and finished three times in the Top 10 ballot for MVP.

Just getting McGriff made the trade lopsided, but they also received Collins, who stole 91 bases (career high of 60 in '84) in his two years in Toronto.

The Yankees received a former first round pick who didn't make it to the major leagues with them. To boot, he was drafted by the Yankees and then traded with others to Toronto (John Mayberry) in early '82.

Dodd was released in 1983.

The Yankees didn't fair any better with Murray. They must have thought they were getting Eddie Murray and/or Dale Murphy instead of a pitcher who went 3-6 over a two-year span.

8. Atlanta Braves traded Brett Butler, Brook Jacoby, Rich Behenna, and included $150k to Cleveland Indians for Len Barker (Aug. '83)

This trade was completed to help the Braves win a tight race for the NL West Division. Unfortunately, the Braves gave up way too much for a pitcher who failed to help them win the division.

Barker was only 1-3 the rest of the way and compiled a record of 10-20 with the Braves.

Butler was excellent for the Indians, averaging 40 stolen bases and 11 triples over four seasons. Jacoby provided pop, hitting 32 HR in 1987, and was selected to two All-Star games ('86 and '90).

7. Los Angeles Dodgers traded John Franco and Brett Wise to the Cincinnati Reds for Rafael Landestoy (May '83)

Landestoy was a player who had some speed (high of 23 SB) but no power (high of one HR and 30 RBI) when the Dodgers made the trade. He would hit two HR during his 118 at-bats.

Franco went on to become the most successful lefty closer in baseball history, saving 148 games with the Reds. He also was selected to three All-Star games over the five seasons before being traded to his childhood team, the Mets.

6. NY Yankees traded Willie McGee to the St. Louis Cardinals for Bob Sykes (Oct. '81)

Prior to trading a young McGriff, the Yankees traded a young McGee for a pitcher who had a record of 23-26 and did not pitch in one inning for them.

The Yankees had to know what talent was on the horizon, as Willie batted .322 and stole 24 bases in AA in '81.

Stats like that would be common the rest of his career.

With the Cardinals, McGee won the MVP award in '85 by batting .353 and stealing 56 bases. McGee was also a solid fielder, winning three Gold Gloves.

With McGee on the roster, the Cardinals won the World Series in '82 (rookie season) and won the NL pennants in '85 and '87.

Though he lacked pop, McGee was a fixture in the third spot in the unorthodox but successful Cardinal lineup.

5. NY Yankees traded Jay Buhner, Rich Balabon, and Troy Evers to the Seattle Mariners for Ken Phelps (Jul. '88)

Promise, this is the last Yankee robbery that will appear in the list.

Again, the Yankees traded a young hitter who they didn't evaluate correctly.

At least this time they evaluated the player in the majors. In his approximately 400 plate appearances, Jay Buhner went down on strikes a whopping 124 times and barely batted over the Mendoza line.

Therefore, it wasn't a surprise for them to trade him for a productive lefty who had pop.

Actually, Yankee fans had to be ecstatic when this trade went down. Phelps hit more than 20 HR—three out of the last four seasons. At the time of the trade, Phelps' stats were .284 BA, 14 HR, and .434 OBP.

Unfortunately for the Yankees, Phelps did come over with some pop, but his batting average drastically dropped to .232.

His career was basically over after the trade.

As for Buhner, his strikeouts remained high, but he became one of the premier sluggers during the '90s by hitting close to 300 HR with Seattle. With Buhner, the Mariners appeared in their first playoff game in 1995.

Ironically, the Mariners won their first series by beating the Yankees, in which Buhner batted .458 against his former team.

4. Chicago Cubs traded Dennis Eckersley and Dan Rohn to the Oakland A's for Brian Guinn, Dave Wilder, and Mark Leonette (Apr. '87)

After Eckersley went 6-11 with an ERA of 4.57, the Cubs felt he was on the brink of retiring.

Tony La Russa decided to convert Ecks from a starter to either the long reliever or setup role. When Jay Howell got hurt, the door opened for Ecks to fill the closing spot.

With this opportunity, Ecks saved 16 games in '87, and a second career began for Dennis.

From '88-'92, Ecks put up stats that were second to no one. He saved 220 games (avg. 44/yr.) and greatly contributed to the A's success during this period.

Many feel, due to having Ecks as the closer and setup men like Rick Honeycutt and Gene Nelson, the way that the bullpen is used today stems from these A's teams.

The Cubs received three career minor leaguers in this trade.

3. Atlanta Braves traded Doyle Alexander to the Detroit Tigers for John Smoltz (Aug. '87)

I had this trade ranked No. 1 until a half-hour ago. The reason for the change is because the Tigers did succeed in accomplishing what their goal was when this trade was made.

They held off the Blue Jays to win the division by two games, and Alexander was the main reason.

They lost to the Twins in the playoffs.

After going 5-10 with the Braves to start the season, Alexander went 9-0 for the Tigers. He followed up his half-season by going 14-11 in '88 and 6-18 in '89.

John Smoltz went on to have a Hall of Fame career playing for a team that featured the best pitching rotation since Earl Weaver's Orioles (perhaps better).

Smoltz won 210 games and saved another 154. He won the Cy Young award in 1996 and was selected to eight All-Star games.

2. Seattle Mariners traded Mark Langston and Mike Campbell to the Montreal Expos for Randy Johnson, Gene Harris, and Brian Holman (May '89)

About a decade and a half before the Bartolo Colon trade, the Montreal Expos GM (Dave Dombrowski) decided to go for the title by trading away some chips for a productive starter.

The main chip was a wild lefty that the Expos basically gave up on (i.e. Nolan Ryan trade by the Mets). Randy continued to be wild, leading the AL in walks from '90-'92, but due to the intimidation factor was very successful with the Mariners.

Randy won the Cy Young award in '95 and was the runner-up in two other seasons. Similar to Jay Buhner, Randy was a major contributor in converting the Mariners from an annual cellar dweller to a playoff team.

As for the Expos, they finished 81-81 for the season even though Langston quickly became the ace by winning 12 games with an ERA of 2.39.

Mark did not return to Montreal. Instead he signed with the Angels after the season.

1. Chicago Cubs traded Ivan DeJesus to the Philadelphia Phillies for Larry Bowa and Ryne Sandberg (Jan. '82)

To add insult to injury, third baseman Ryne Sandberg was basically a throw-in. All Ryno did was become the best second baseman during the '80s and one of the most popular players of his time.

The trade came to fruition due to Bowa's constant complaints to Phillies management. After finding a partner to make a trade, Cubs GM Dallas Green (former Phillies manager) wanted to include a prospect in the deal with the aging Bowa.

Sandberg was blocked by Mike Schmidt and Manny Trillo, at third base and second base, respectively. Phillies GM Paul Owens still did not want to trade Ryne, but the scouts felt that Sandberg was no more than a future utility player.

Plus, Green did not want any other prospect.

One of the most lopsided trades in history was completed.

As for the two principal players involved in the trade, Bowa and DeJesus were interchangeable.

Honorable Mention

Balt: Fred Lynn—Det: Chris Hoiles

Balt: Eddie Murray—LA: Juan Bell, Brian Holton, and Ken Howell

LA: Ron Cey—ChicC: Vance Lovelace and Dan Cataline

Cin: Charlie Leibrand—KC: Bob Tufts

Balt: Dennis Martinez and John Stefero—Mon: Rene Gonzales

LA: Sid Fernandez—NYM: Bob Bailor and Carlos Diaz

The Making of a World Series Champion: 1986 New York Mets

FRANK — Sun, 17 May 2009 00:41:52 -0400

While reviewing the Mets transactions during the 80s, I couldn't believe the abundance of trades that favored the Mets during that period. Between the trades and the successful draft picks, Frank Cashen turnaround a fallen club and created a World Series Champion. Hired by Nelson Doubleday in 1980, Cashen's first move was to hire a well known PR company to change the team's perception. The hired company was behind "The Magic Is Back" slogan which aired on commericals, showing past stars. This slideshow will take a look at the starters who formed the '86 Mets and list how they were obtained. Hope you enjoy.

Begin Slideshow

Listen Up, This Is a Robbery: Baseball's 12 Most Lopsided Trades of the 1990s

FRANK — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:21:47 -0400

My first article listed the 12 most lopsided trades in the 21st century. The Bartolo Colon trade was ranked number one.

Here is the link to the article, if interested.

This article will rank the 12 most lopsided trades of the 1990s. I will discuss the purpose for the trades and the aftermath.

12. Florida Marlins trade Moises Alou to the Houston Astros for Manuel Barrios, Oscar Henriquez, and Mark Johnson (Nov. '97)

After winning the World Series in 1997, the Marlins dramatically reduced payroll by trading away the team's leaders, including Moises Alou.

As a member of the Astros, Alou finished in the MVP Top 20 ballot three out of the four years. He probably would have done it in the fourth year if it weren’t for a season-ending injury that occurred on a treadmill.

The Astros featured a scary lineup with Alou on the roster, which included Jeff Bagwell, Craig Biggio, and Derek Bell. With this offense, the Astros appeared in the playoffs three out of Alou's four years.

As for the counterparts in the trade, Barrios pitched in two games, Henriquez in 14 games, and Mark Johnson didn't get one at-bat as members of the Marlins. The Florida Marlins did not have a winning season until 2003, when they won the World Series again. Of course, history repeated itself, and the Marlins once again traded their team leaders to reduce their payroll.

11. New York Yankees trade Mike Lowell to the Florida Marlins for Todd Noel, Mark Johnson, and Ed Yarnall (Feb. '99)

The Marlins were able to redeem themselves by obtaining Mike Lowell. Lowell would become the team clubhouse leader as well as a three time All-Star during his seven years in Miami.

The Yankees made the trade to add depth to their pitching staff. Unfortunately for them, Ed Yarnall only pitched in 20 innings in '99 and '00. But that didn't stop the Yankees from winning the World Series in those two years.

10, Montreal Expos trade Pedro Martinez to the Boston Red Sox for Carl Pavano and Tony Armas Jr. (Nov. '97)

Similar to the Florida Marlins, the Expos didn't generate enough revenue to keep their top players once they reached their free agent years. Therefore, the Expos were basically forced into trading these players to the team who presented the best offer.

That's exactly what happened to the 1997 Cy Young winner. The Red Sox won the Pedro derby by offering two major league-ready pitchers in Pavano and Armas. Pavano won 24 games over his four-and-a-half seasons, and Armas won 48 games over eight seasons.

The future Hall of Famer continued his success with the Red Sox by winning two more Cy Young awards and finished second in two other seasons.

9. Tampa Bay Devil Rays trade Bobby Abreu to the Philadelphia Phillies for Kevin Stocker (Nov. '97)

Just hours after drafting Abreu from the Houston Astros in the Expansion Draft, the Devil Rays decided to trade him for the shortstop Stocker.

During Stocker's two years with the Rays, he was able to muscle out nine home runs and steal a combined 15 bases. Stocker would be out of baseball after 2000.

Bobby Abreu became the Phillies' best player during his time in the "Brotherly" city. He was selected to two All-Star games, hit 195 home runs, and batted over .300 six times.

8. Detroit Tigers trade Luis Gonzalez to the Arizona Diamondbacks for Karim Garcia (Dec. '98)

Between 1990-1998, Gonzalez was a slightly below average player and was not putting up the kind of batting numbers expected of a corner outfielder. By 1998, Gonzalez was labeled a journeyman who was on the brink of becoming a platoon player.

Then out of the blue (wink, wink), Gonzalez became a star. He made his first All-Star game in his first year with the D-Backs, hitting 26 home runs and driving in 111 runs.
After hitting 31 home runs in 2000, Gonzo belted 57 HR and won the MVP in 2001. He was also a major contributor to the team winning the World Series in the same year.

Karim Garcia hit 14 HR and drove in 32 runs during his lengthy 104 games with the Tigers.

7. Los Angeles Dodgers trade Pedro Martinez to the Montreal Expos for Delino DeShields (Nov. '93)

Unlike the Expos, who were basically forced into trading Martinez, the Dodgers were willing to trade one of the best pitchers in the past 30 years. After receiving low production from second baseman Jody Reed in 1993, coupled with their depth in young pitching, it seemed a great fit for the Dodgers to make this trade.

They knew they were giving up on a young talent—after all, Pedro was 10-5 that year—but they were receiving a former first round pick who brought tremendous speed and would fit in nicely at the top of the lineup.

Unfortunately for the Dodgers, DeShields only batted .250, .256, and .224 during his three years in LA.

Pedro Martinez went on to win 55 games over four years with Montreal. He also was the 1997 Cy Young winner.

6. Houston Astros trade Kenny Lofton to the Cleveland Indians for Willie Blair and Ed Taubensee (Dec. '91)

Wanting to move Craig Biggio to another position and with no replacement on the roster, the Astros decided to trade the speedy Lofton to the Indians for catcher Taubensee.

When the trade happened, it seemed the Astros had initially won as they also received a young pitcher in the deal. Besides, Lofton was a similar player to others on the roster like Eric Yelding, Gerald Young, and Steve Finley—guys with a lot of speed and no pop.

Biggio did move to second base in '92. Taubensee's unproductive career with the Astros only lasted a little more than two years before he was traded to the Cincinnati Reds for two unknown players.

Kenny Lofton was a major contributor to the Indians' success after the strike. Lofton became the best leadoff hitter during this time and played in five All-Star games as an Indian. He also won five consecutive stolen base crowns from 1992-1996.

5. Seattle Mariners trade Derek Lowe and Jason Varitek to the Boston Red Sox for Heathcliff Slocumb (July '97)

During the '97 season, the Mariners were desperate to replace Norm Charlton (7.27 ERA) as closer to remain in first place in the AL West. Due to having a productive catcher in Dan Wilson, the Mariners decided that the former first round pick Jason Varitek was expendable. For good leverage, they decided to include a young pitcher named Derek Lowe as well.

Lowe became a closer to replace Slocumb and went on to save 42 games in 2000. He was then converted to a starter and found success by winning 21, 17, and 14 games as a member of the rotation.

The current captain, Varitek, has hit 165 HR while playing in his 13 seasons as a member of the Red Sox.

As for the Mariners, they did win the division but only received three saves in 1998 from Slocumb. He left for Baltimore after the season.

4. Boston Red Sox trade Jamie Moyer to the Seattle Mariners for Darren Bragg (July '96)

A year before the Slocumb trade, the Mariners were able to rob the Red Sox by receiving Moyer, who was on the brink of becoming a star pitcher at the tender age of 33.

In his first 11 years, Moyer only had double-digit wins in three seasons and was playing for his fifth team prior to the trade. So it surprised everyone when Moyer won 17 games for the Mariners in '97 and then continued his success by winning a range of 13 to 21 games the next six seasons.

Darren Bragg lasted two seasons with the BoSox and hit nine and eight HR, respectively.

3. Curt Schilling trades

a) Baltimore Orioles trade Curt Schilling, Steve Finley, and Pete Harnisch to the Houston Astros for Glenn Davis (Jan. '91)

b) Houston Astros trade Curt Schilling to Philadelphia Phillies for Jason Grimsley (Apr. '92)

I've decided to take the cheat route and lump together both lopsided trades that Shilling was a part of.

Needing to replace the offense that they lost when Eddie Murray left, the Orioles traded for Glenn Davis to play 1B/DH. Davis suffered a neck injury and never fulfilled the power he showed in the '80s. Davis only hit 24 home runs over three seasons for the Orioles. In 1993, he even lost a bar fight and had his jaw broken. The Orioles released him in 1993.

Finley played in four seasons and was a feature at the top of the lineup. He was traded to the Padres in a 12-man blockbuster trade in Dec. '94, which included both Ken Caminiti and Derek Bell. Harnisch won a total of 45 games over four seasons. He was traded to the Mets for two unknown players.

As for Curt Schilling, he would only pitch for one season (3-5, 3.81 ERA) before being involved in another lopsided trade.

Prior to the '92, the Phillies struck gold when they traded the future "Benedict Arnold" Jason Grimsley for the flamethrower.

Schilling won 96 games and appeared in the World Series in '93 as a member of the Phillies.

Grimsley did not pitch for the Astros in 1992 and was released before the '93 season.

2. Oakland A's trade Mark McGwire to the St. Louis Cardinals for T.J. Matthews, Eric Ludwick, and Blake Stein (July '97)

With McGwire in the last year of his contract, the A's decided to trade him and get whatever they could before he walked.

The A's received three pitchers who did not amount to much for them. They combined for 30 wins with the team.

Mark McGwire went on to continue to put up arcade-like numbers, which would put a player in the Hall of Fame if he was not perceived to be a steroid user.

1. Boston Red Sox trade Jeff Bagwell to the Houston Astros for Larry Andersen (Aug. '90)

Just prior to the waiver wire trade deadline, the Red Sox strengthened their bullpen by acquiring Andersen.

The Red Sox went on to win the division but lost to the Oakland A's in the playoffs. Andersen gave up two ER in the three innings pitched.

While Andersen played only one season for the Sox, appearing in 15 games and recording one save, Bagwell became a legend in Houston, hitting 449 home runs with over 1,500 RBI and a .297 average over 15 seasons. Bagwell would go on to win the 1991 NL Rookie of the Year award, as well as also being honored with the NL MVP in 1994.

This trade goes down as being one of the worst ever.

With Bagwell on the roster, the Astros went to six playoffs but unfortunately did not win the World Series.

Bagwell should be a first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee with the career totals mentioned above.

Analyzing the Cincinnati Reds: The May 9 Edition

FRANK — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:16:06 -0400

Prior to Spring Training, I wrote an article that provided an analysis of the 2009 Cincinnati Reds and why they may be considered this year's version of the Rays.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/125092-this-years-tampa-bay-rays-the-cincinnati-reds

I have decided to take an early look at the Reds and see how they have matched up against the other teams in their division.

The NL Central is shaping up to be another tough division this year. Aside from the Pirates and Astros, every team looks like they will be playing for something come August.

Cincinnati Reds

The Reds are currently tied for third with a record of 16-13. A good start like this was crucial in order to gain confidence in a team that is still young.

During this early season, the Reds have gone 13-8 against teams within their division and have a 10-5 road record. These stats paint a picture that shows the Reds are able to win the tough inter-division games and win on the road.

The biggest impact has been the Reds pitching (both starting and bullpen).

The team's ERA is currently 3.99, the only poor starts coming from Bronson Arroyo (16.34 ERA at home vs. 1.69 on the road), Micah Owings (5.08), and reliever Jared Burton (6.08).

On the bright side, starters Johnny Cueto (3-1, 1.59 ERA), Aaron Harang (2-3, 3.00), and Edison Volquez (4-2, 3.47) have joined relievers Franciso Cordero, Dave Weathers, Arthur Rhodes, and Danny Herrera in contributing to the early success.

As expected, the offense has been led by Joey Votto (.370 and 23 RBI) and Jay Bruce (eight home runs). Also, newcomers Willy Tavaras (.276 and six stolen bases) and Ramon Hernandez (.282) have chipped in.

Surprisingly, the Reds are only 11th (24 HRs) in home runs in the NL. This however, will change once Hernandez (1 HR), Brandon Phillips (5 HRs), Edwin Encarnacion (1 HR), and Alex Gonzalez (1 HR) get their groove going.

As for the other teams in the division:

St. Louis Cardinals

Tony LaRussa has to be considered one of the best managers ever, and along with Bobby Cox, the best in the past 25 years. Managers like them get 110 percent from their players, which is the exact reason the St. Louis Cardinals are in first.

Milwaukee Brewers

The Brewers are currently in second, but they have too many question marks, especially their pitching.

Yovani Gallardo will continue to be the ace in this rotation but the only pitcher to produce.

Do you really expect David Bush, Braden Looper, and Manny Parra to strike fear in their opponents?

Jeff Suppan has been a big disappointment and is pivotal if the Brewers are going to succeed.

The offense will be called on to carry this team the whole year, but they will miss having Ben Sheets and CC Sabathia down the road.

Chicago Cubs

Though they are also three games over .500, Lou Pinella is still ticked with their start to the season.

Remember, this is a team with a large payroll and high expectations.

But their hitting does not look well enough to win, as Geovany Soto, Derek Lee, and Milton Bradley are all batting below the Mendoza Line. The Cubs are currently 13th in batting (.248).

Each team has identified their strengths and flaws in the early going and adjustments will be needed to succeed.

I'm expecting an exciting race for the crown, as well for the wild card spot.

As the year goes on, I will take another look at the Reds and their division foes.

Good luck Reds!

Ranking the MLB Top 15 Rookie of the Year Seasons Since 1980

FRANK — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:19:36 -0400

Since 1980, there have been 58 Rookie Of The Year (ROY) winners. Some of the winners were a flash in the pan, some have put together stats that are Hall-of-Fame worthy, but most had solid careers which spanned a dozen of years. This slide show will list the top 15 ROY seasons since 1980. As always, please let me know your thoughts.

Begin Slideshow

Looking Back on the Toronto Blue Jays' Back-to-Back World Series Championships

FRANK — Fri, 01 May 2009 23:50:55 -0400

From 1983 through 1991, no team had a better record than the Toronto Blue Jays, led by George Bell, Tony Fernandez, Jesse Barfield, Fred McGriff, Jimmy Key, Dave Stieb, and Tom Henke. The Blue Jays won 85+ games every year, including three 90+ seasons. Unfortunately, the Blue Jays only had three division titles to reflect the good run. Due to some brilliant trades and signings the Blue Jays were able to capture the World Series rings in 1992 and 1993 with Cito Gaston at the helm. This slide show will illustrate who were the Blue Jay starters in '92 & '93 and how they were acquired. Hope you enjoy.

Begin Slideshow

Pittsburgh Pirates: Willie to Barry to Nate

FRANK — Fri, 01 May 2009 13:42:30 -0400

With the song "We Are Family" glaring from the speakers in Three Rivers Stadium, the Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles, 7-1, in Game Five of the 1979 World Series to extend the series. It would be two games later when the Pirates would go on to defeat the Orioles by winning the next two games in Baltimore.

Times were good for the Pirates, as they capped their second World Series Championship during the 70's (winning in 1971 against the Orioles). From 1969 to 1979, the Pirates were one of the best teams in baseball. They won 90 or more games six times during that span and only had one losing season (80-82 in '73)

When you are on top, there's no way to go but down. That is exactly what occurred in the mid 1980s.

The decline started with the trade of Bert Blyleven to Cleveland, after the 1980 season, with the aging Manny Sanguillen for four unproductive players.

It turned out that Willie Stargell's MVP year of '79 would be his last productive season, as he would hit only 14 home runs combined over the next three seasons before retiring after the '82 season.

After the 1983 season, the downward spiral was complete. The Pirates let Dave Parker walk and traded Mike Easler to Boston for John Tudor (who they then traded the next year for George Kendrick and a minor league player).

In 1984, the Pirates began a three year rebuilding process that would see them lose 87, 104, and 98 games during that span. During those years, players like Marvell Wynne, Sammy Khalifa, Tony Pena, Jason Thompson, and Jim Morrison would be the top players. In 1985, the Pirates home run leader was Thompson with only 12 and the RBI leader was Johnny Ray with 70.

During 1985, the Pirates would start the year making one bad move. They were not able to sign Greg Vaughn whom they drafted in Jan. of 1985. But in June, the Pirates made a draft pick that would begin their transition back to glory. They drafted Barry Bonds as the sixth pick in the first round (after BJ Surhoff, Will Clark, Bobby Witt, Barry Larkin, and Kurt Brown).

They followed the draft pick by making three trades that would complete the renaissance in Pittsburgh. First they traded Jose DeLeon to the White Sox for Bobby Bonilla. Then, they traded Pat Clements, Cecilio Guante, and Rick Rhoden to the Yankees for future Cy Young Winner Doug Drabek, Brian Fisher, and a minor league player. Lastly, the Pirates would complete their future All-Star outfield by trading Tony Pena to the Cardinals for Andy Van Slyke, Mike Dunne, and Mike LaValliere.

In 1988, the up-and-coming Pirates finished second in the NL East division with a record of 85-75. Bonilla and Van Slyke drove in 100 runs apiece and Bonds was on the brink of stardom, hitting 24 home runs and batting .283. The rotation was also rounding into form as three pitchers won a dozen or more games.

After regressing to 74 wins in 1989, the Pirates won their first of three division titles in 1990. The league finally noticed what talent was playing in Pittsburgh, as Bonds won his first MVP award and Doug Drabek won the Cy Young. With the position move of Bonilla to the outfield, the Pirates arguably had the best outfield since Fred Lynn's rookie season in Boston.

Though the Pirates won three consecutive division titles, they were not able to win the League Championship. They lost to the Reds in six games and then lost to the Braves the next two seasons in seven games.

Not only was '92 the last time that the Pirates won the division, but it was also their last winning season. Contrary to when the rise began with the Bonds draft, the fall began with Bonds leaving, via free agency, to the San Francisco Giants. After winning two MVP awards with the Pirates, money led him to the Bay Area and led to the Rome-like fall of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pirates were not able to replace his production, especially since Bonilla left for the Mets a year earlier.

The team that recently counted on 90 home runs from their three All-Star outfielders only managed 110 from their whole team in 1993. The Pirates won 75 games, after averaging 95 the last three years.

The rest of the decade had players like Jeff King, Jay Bell, Carlos Garcia, Al Martin, and Orlando Merced lead the team in hitting, but they were no Bonds or Bonilla. The glory days were over but no one has expected the drought to run as long as it had.

The inability to draft a star player has been the biggest cause. During the 1990s, the only No. 1 picks that made an impact in the major leagues were Jason Kendall (1992) and Kris Benson (1996). Other impact players drafted during the same time were Tony Womack and Kevin Young. These guys are not your big impact players that completely rebuild a team.

Though the Jim Leyland Pirates were built around drafted Bonds, the other stars were obtained via trades. The Pirates have not been able to make a big trade that would benefit them but, instead, made many trades that they were pressure into making because their player was coming up to free agency and would walk (Brian Giles, Aramis Ramirez, Benson and Jason Schmidt).

The final cause is salary driven. The budget has remained low due to the lack of attendance. This has handcuffed the GM from making necessary signings to compete. When they were able to sign a player, they left everyone scratching their heads and wondering why (Pat Meares).

The Pirates may be heading in the right direction with the new decade. The recent draft picks have left an aura of excitement and thoughts of what may lie ahead. Paul Maholm, Ryan Doumit, Nate McLouth, Zach Duke, Matt Capps, Nyjer Morgan, Andrew McCutchen and Tom Gorzelanny all have been drafted recently and are ready to shine. The Pirates received Andy LaRoche, Craig Hansen, Brandon Morris, Jeff Karstens, and Ross Ohlendorf in return for Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, and Damaso Marte, due to two trades in 2008.

The only factor that needs to be addressed is bringing the fans back and signing some veterans to help guide the young team back to the postseason.

Aside from the New York Yankees, the Pittsburgh Pirates are arguably the most storied franchise in baseball history. This is the reason for the recap dating back to when I was young. I'm hoping to paint a picture for the young readers who may not know how good the Pirates were.

The MLB's Top 20 One-Hit Wonders

FRANK — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:43:36 -0400

What do Vanilla Ice, Icky Woods, and Pete Schourek have in common?

They are considered "one-hit wonders" in their respective profession. Vanilla Ice made a living rapping his hit song "Ice Ice Baby" and Icky Woods' Shuffle was the thing to do in 1988 after scoring a touchdown. As for Schourek, he would have a career year in 1995 helping the Reds win the NL Central division.

Below is my ranking of 20 players, since 1980, who I consider to be one-hit wonders. If you were to check the back of their baseball cards, one year would stand out like a sore thumb.

20. Dale Sveum (.252, 86 runs, 25 home runs, and 95 RBI in 1987)

In 1987, balls were leaving the ballparks at a record pace and many players had a career year, including Sveum. His '88 numbers (41 runs, nine home runs, and 51 RBI) were a big drop and would represent his last year as a full time player.

19. Warren Morris (.288, 15 home runs, and 73 RBI in 1999)

In 1999, Morris finished third in the Rookie of the Year (ROY) ballot and the Pirates thought they found their best second baseman since Johnny Ray. Unfortunately, Morris would only hit 11 home runs the remaining four years of his career.

18. Eric Yelding (64 stolen bases in 1990)

Yelding only netted 25 stolen bases the other four years.

17. Jose Mercedes (14-7, 4.02 ERA in 2000)

After five years and a combine record of 11-22, Mercedes surprised the Orioles with 14 wins. The following year would be his last full season, which saw him lose 17 games.

16. Derrick Turnbow (7-1, 1.74 ERA, and 39 saves in 2005)

After toiling as a middle reliever for the Angels, the Brewers were fortunate to pick Derrick off waivers after the 2004 season. He would reward the team with a Rollie Fingeresque season. Though Turnbow saved 24 games the following year, his ERA rose to 6.87 and the Brewers traded for Francisco Cordero at the trade deadline to take over the closing job.

15. Willie Blair (16-8, 4.17 ERA in 1997)

It would take seven seasons before Blair finished a year with double digit wins. He would accomplish the feat again in 2000, going 10-6 with an ERA close to five.

14. Jeffrey Hammonds (.335, 94 runs, 20 HR, 106 RBI in 2000)

Hammonds was drafted in the first round (fourth pick) in the 1992 draft by the Baltimore Orioles. Therefore, they expected a lot more than his combined 46 dingers in five plus seasons. Hammonds would go on to be traded to the Reds and then the Rockies, which is where he would benefit from the thin air and provide statistics that were expected from him when drafted.

After putting up stats due to the benefits of the thin air, Hammonds was able to coax a contract for over $20 million to play for the Brewers. He would regress back and hit only 22 round trippers in his remaining four plus seasons.

13. Kelvin Elster (24 HR and 99 RBI in 1996)

After 10 years, Elster was portrayed as a solid shortstop whose career highs were 10 HR and 55 RBI. This is the reason everyone was taken back and skeptic about his '96 totals.

12. Todd Ritchie (15-9 and 3.49 ERA in 1999)

Ritchie pitched for a total of eight seasons and reached double digits in wins one other time.

11. Phil Plantier (34 HR and 100 in 1993)

In his first year with the Padres, Plantier finished seventh in the NL HR race. The problem wasn't power but his inability to hit for average.

10. Joe Mays (17-13, 3.16 ERA in 2001)

Mays did not win double digits in any other season.

9. Craig McMurtry (15-9 and 3.08 ERA in 1983)

The ROY runner up could not avoid the sophomore jinx. Craig's record was 9-17 in '84 and he won only four more games during his remaining six years.

8. Kent Bottenfield (18-7, 3.97 ERA in 1999)

The St. Louis Cardinals made out like bandits when they signed Bottenfield prior to the '98 season. Not only did they get the 18 wins in '99, they were able to trade him and Adam Kennedy to the Angels for Jim Edmonds. As for Bottenfield, '99 would be the only year that he won double digits.

7. Garret Stephenson (16-9 and 4.49 in 2000)

Garret was selected in the 18th round, so just making to the big leagues is a hit itself. His superb year in 2000 was probably translated due to health, as he was able to start 31 games.

6. Sidney Ponson (17-12 and 3.75 ERA in 2003)

Though Ponson won more than 10 games three times, 2003 stands out because his ERA was sub-4.00 and he was able to turn this walk year to a nice contract. After he signed the contract, Ponson became a headache on and off the field and was not in good shape. The Orioles actually released him in the middle of his contract.

5. Joe Charboneau (.289, 76 Runs, 23 HR, and 87 RBI in 1980)

After winning the ROY award for Cleveland, he would last for two more years, where he combined for six home runs and 27 RBI. "Super" Joe has the distinction of being the first ROY winner to be sent down to the minors the next season.

4. Mike Bielecki (18-7 and 3.14 ERA in 1989)

Bielecki was probably one of the main reasons the Chicago Cubs won the NL East division. Bielecki had only one other season in which he won more than 10 games.

3. Paul Abbott (19-7 and 4.25 ERA in 2001)

Abbott's record was probably a symbol of the Mariners' (116 wins) play in '01 rather than his talent.

2. Jeff Ballard (18-8 and 3.43 ERA in 1989)

After going a combined 10-20 in his first two seasons, Ballard went on to finish sixth in the Cy Young race. Afterwards, Jeff won only 13 more games in his remaining four seasons.

1. Pete Schourek (18-7, 3.22 ERA, and 160 K in 1995)

Schourek's record was 23-26 in first four seasons prior to his Cy Young type season. Everyone knew that Schourek was a solid back end of the rotation pitcher but you couldn't predict his '95 season. Most people, including myself, didn't expect a follow up and were correct. Pete finished his career winning 25 games during his last six seasons.

Similar to musicians, many baseball players succumb to sophomore slumps. For whatever reason, it's difficult to succeed and maintain that success.

It's curious to note that 13 out of the 20 players are pitchers. This may help assist the logic that pitching is volatile or at the very least appreciate pitchers who maintained their success over a long period of time.

To quote another one-hit wonder named EMF:

"You're unbelievable...OHHHHH"

The MLB All-Decade Team: 1980-1989

FRANK — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:45:50 -0400

The 1980's was a decade when speed, pitching, and defense trumped power. You won't see arcade-like power stats, which became common in the following two decades, as only ten HR leaders out of twenty (both leagues) finished with forty or more round trippers. In contrast, the nineties saw eighteen finished with forty or more and no player hit fifty home runs. This was the decade when speed was king. With guys like Rickey Henderson, Vince Coleman, Willie McGee, Willie Wilson, and Tim Raines, eleven out of the top fifty all-time stolen base amounts (season) was recorded during this decade. This would also be the last decade when it was common to see complete games and four men rotations. This was the decade that belonged to the Royals Cardinals, Phillies, and the Dodgers. The Dodgers is my choice for best team of the 1980's. The Dodgers won two World Series rings, and two other years where they won the NL West. This slide show will identify my choices for the All-Decade team. Out of the three decades presented, this decade was the toughest to choose. But it should be noted that every non-pitching position player selected are in the hall of fame except one.

Begin Slideshow

The All-Decade Team: 1990-1999

FRANK — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 22:33:03 -0400

The 1990's brought us teenie music groups, OJ Simpson case, Monica Lewinsky, and worst of all a baseball strike. But the 1990's also brought us some terrific fall classics. Who can't forget the battle between the Twins and Braves in 1991 World Series or the Joe Carter home run off Wild Thing Mitch Williams in 93'. The 90's also featured some outstanding players who were able to produce stats that you would have compiled on your favorite arcade game (e.g. RBI, Tecmo Baseball, or Baseball Stars). This slideshow will feature the best of the best during this decade by position. For this article, we are going to make believe the stats were produced naturally; so basically we are going to be Bud Selig as we read. Hope you voice your opinion.

Begin Slideshow

Curt Schilling vs. Mike Mussina: Who's More Deserving of the Hall of Fame?

FRANK — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 22:38:09 -0400

The minute after Curt Shilling and Mike Mussina announce their retirements, the debating began in offices, message boards, and sport articles. Are these two terrific pitchers Hall of Fame worthy?

Well before we answer that question. I wanted to compare the two pitchers and decide who would be selected if only one was allowed.

So let's go to the Tale of the Tapes (Shilling's stats first then followed by Mussina):

Winning Pct.: 59.7% (216-146) v. 63.8% (270-153)

Regular Season

CG: 83 v. 57

SO: 3116 v. 2813

ERA: 3.46 v. 3.68

All Star Appearances 6 v. 5

CY Young Runner-up 3 v. 1

Post Season

Wins: 10 v. 7

ERA: 2.23 v. 3.42

WS Rings 3 v. 0

If you are a person who strictly relies on wins, Mike Mussina would be the man to head to Cooperstown due to his 270 regular season wins. But, taken into consideration the other regular season stats, I would have to say it's a draw.

What separates Shilling from Mussina was in the postseason. Let's face it. Shilling was a money pitcher and one of the best in history, just look at the amount of rings he won. Not that he was lucky to be on the team, he played a big part for Arizona and Boston in winning (3-1, 2.06 ERA in World Series play).

Verdict: Hate to take the cheap route and call this a draw and not elect either player. I tend to have a feeling that the Hall of Fame should only include the best of the best. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case with many of the people who casts a vote. Too many underserving players have been elected.

Therefore, Mike Mussina will be elected and Shilling will join Tommy John, Bert Blyleven, and Andre Dawson and knock on the door that does not open.

The reasons Mussina will join Jim Palmer in the Hall of Fame are:

Lefty Grove (300-141) is the only pitcher to have more wins and fewer losses than Mussina
every eligible pitcher with a winning percentage over 60 percent was elected in the past
he received votes in nine Cy Young Award elections—a total matched by only four other pitchers (all are in or will be elected)
won seven gold gloves to go with his five All-Star selections
played for big markets in Baltimore and New York

So despite not liking the guy and the Yankees, I would bet the dog house that Mussina is able to walk through the doors. Hopefully, the door will hit him where the good Lord split him.

The All Decade Team: 2000-2009

FRANK — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:34:29 -0400

While growing up in the 80's the only way to gather information on baseball stats were to read the back of the baseball cards, read numerous baseball magazines and watch the weekly show "This Week In Baseball". One of these avenues was where I came across a list which named the decades best players. Among the list were Mike Schmidt (Player of The Decade), Jack Morris (Pitcher of The Decade), and Jeff Reardon (Fireman of The Decade) Enclosed you will find my All Decade Team from 2000 to 2009. Though the 2009 season is just opening, the roster spots for this teams are already determined. To be included in this team, a player had to perform consistently well for many years during this decade. It's no surprise that at least 10 of the 14 players are locks to join the Hall of Fame (assuming steroid allegations and admittance don't sway the voting).

Begin Slideshow