Pet Rock: The Pop Culture Blog

With baseball beginning its season this week, I was all set to dig up a good clip for this week's installment of Old School Tuesday.

But last night, I watched Ric Flair's farewell ceremony on WWE Monday Night Raw, and, I won't lie here, I got a bit emotional.

Flair was the best wrestling persona of all-time (Sorry, Hulkamaniacs, but you know it's true.) He was stylin' and profilin' long before anyone else. "To be the man, you gotta beat the man," he always said. He was always the man.

Old School Tuesday salutes "the dirtiest player in the game" and the original member of NWA/WCW's Four Horseman with a few of his classic interviews and a special bonus clip from last night's RAW.

Woooooooooooooooooooo!

Woooooooooooooooooooo!

Woooooooooooooooooooo!

Woooooooooooooooooooo!

There exists in this country a person or persons who receive a paycheck to do the following job:

Putting tables, steel chairs, Kendo sticks, garbage cans, sledgehammers and ladders underneath the ring for potential use on WWE's Monday Night Raw and other pro wrestling shows.

If this person is derelict in his or her duties, you can only imagine the ramifications. What's pro wrestling without foreign objects and steel chairs?

Here's another question: In the occupation field on tax returns, what does this person write? Only in America!

More reasons to love America

- Mark La Monica

I've made my triumphant return to the squared circle, or at least I started watching pro wrestling again for the past five weeks.

I won't front and say I never liked it or that it doesn't entertainment me still. But for the past five weeks, I watched WWE Monday Night Raw intensely, conducting an observational research study. There's little science involved here, hence the keyword "observational."

Somewhere in between the swantan bombs, RKOs, elimination chambers, pedigrees and powerbombs, the old moves went away.

Classic wrestling moves you won't see anymore (unless you're on YouTube):

1) Camel clutch: The only way this comes back is if Bush takes us to war against Iran. Please don't do that, Mr. Bush.

2) Abdominal stretch: Was there a better or more ridiculously fake move than this one?

3) Headbutt: Short but powerful. Perhaps all that NFL concussion research plays a role here.

4) Leg drop: Hulk Hogan did it the best, but surely someone else could try it.

5) Standing dropkick: These wrestlers are more athletic than ever before. Surely someone can elevate high enough from a standing position to smack an opponent in the face with his feet.

6) Backbreaker: Oh, the L-5!

7) Real tag teams: Anyone remember Windham and Rotundo? Demolition? The Hardy Boys? DX? Road Warriors? Midnight Rockers? The Rock n Roll Express? These were tag teams!

Back in the day, Tuesday Night Titans was the pre-eminent wrestling program on television.

Back in the day, The Magnificent Muraco, later known as Don "The Rock" Muraco, was among the more charismatic bad guys in the WWF (that's what it was called back then before the World Wildlife Fund won its lawsuit).

So here on Old School Tuesday, join in my pro wrestling renaissance.

- Mark La Monica

What'cha gonna do when Hulkamania runs wild on you?!?

I was a Hulkamaniac back in the day, though he ran a distant second to the "Macho Man" Randy Savage in my book. I followed the three demandments: I said my prayers, ate my vitamins and trained hard.

So when the Hulkster speaks now, I'm obliged to listen. Here he is on CW11 talking about his stint as host of the new "American Gladiators."

- Mark La Monica