Vince Russo came up with some doozies during his time on wrestling creative teams (shout out to the Bat Man), but perhaps his worst idea was when he suggested that the product should be real. A group of professional wrestlers, nearly all of whom have no real organized fighting training or experience, were going to actually fight on a show filled with works and fakery. Ultimately, bunch of flailing, exhausted, injured sports entertainers stunk up the ring to no ultimate benefit for anybody carrying out perhaps mainstream wrestling's worst idea in history. 

There really has never been anybody like Andy Kaufman. From bombing on purpose in front of packed comedy clubs to touring as his lounge singer alter ego, Kaufman's style of entertainment is only called "comedy" because we don't have a word for it. He was a massive admirer of professional wrestling, and his dedication to kayfabe in every venture made him a natural when he decided to become the Inter-Gender Wrestling Champion of the World. This led to one of the greatest feuds in the history of wrestling when Andy went to Memphis to take on Jerry "The King" Lawler.

The intro is mostly cat talk. 

00:00 - 10:07 We discuss our kitty cats.

10:07 - 1:37:56 Andy Kaufman's Career and Pro Wrestling Legacy

1989 was a tumultuous year for the NWA. With Dusty Rhodes leaving as WCW booker, a power vacuum was created that eventually led to a booking-by-committee situation. This could have led to a bad year product-wise, but at least at the big shows, the talent on the roster and the quality of their work produced a fantastic year for wrestling. For some reason, they decided to end the year with two non-title round robin tournaments. Was it a good idea? No! Was there some fun to be had? Kind of, I guess! We got to see some more great Ric Flair work, at least. Join us as we say goodbye to 1989 in our season 5 finale! 

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00:00 - 11:38 Dusty points out that the Seattle Kraken hockey team don't use a Kraken in any of their branding and the boys are angry about it. 

11:38 - 1:45:23 Starrcade 1989!

Being that the score was not settled at Halloween Havoc (Settling the Score), Ric Flair and Terry Funk decided to, once and for all, settle the score. This time, they will face off in an "I Quit" match. Also, Jim Cornette seems to be paying a lot of attention to his new tag team The Dynamic Dudes, and the Midnight Express is not exactly jazzed about it. This PPV was short, fun, and ultimately score settling. 

First, the Snark Marks talk about Black Friday shopping and share a few memories of working at a bank together.

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00:00 - 20:14 Intro (Black Friday, stupid bank life)

20:14 - 1:44:22 WCW Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout

It's the first Halloween Havoc! Crazy ass Terry Funk invaded WCW to challenge World Champion Ric Flair, but his first attempt went south at WrestleWar. He's back, this time with The Great Muta by his side, to challenge Flair and Sting in the god dang THUNDERDOME! This show also includes some of the best Lex Luger work we have ever covered, discussion on the ease of identifying the "mysterious" Doom pairing, and Rick Steiner's face ONCE AGAIN being in the doo doo. 

We begin by discussing our favorite Thanksgiving foods, bonfires, and the stupidity of beer pong. 

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00:00 - 20:44 Intro (Thanksgiving, Bonfire, Beer Pong)

20:44 - 1:55:59 WCW Halloween Havoc 1989

1989 was the year of Ric Flair. After three five star matches with Ricky Steamboat, Flair moved on to perhaps his kindred spirit: Terry Funk. There is no way this feud will be anything other than classic, with two of the best performers in the history of wrestling facing off for the most prestigious title in the world. This PPV is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, with intrigue from top to bottom (plus they actually let Rick Steiner win a match while only getting a tiny bit of doodoo on his face!)

First, the boys discuss Andrew's recent attending of a drink and draw event before he reveals a big surprise- The Snark Marks are going to Wrestlemania. 

00:00 - 12:00 Andrew's Drink and Draw event 

12:00 - 18:31 The Snark Marks are going to Wrestlemania

18:31 - 2:27:29 Great American Bash 1989

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WrestleWar 1989 answered the age-old question "can you have too much of a good thing?" Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat faced off for their third consecutive five-star match, but the matchup is beginning to feel stale. In fairness, it doesn't help that we watched them in consecutive weeks rather than waiting months like wrestling fans did. It was, however, the best part of a mostly flaccid wrestling program. Michael Hayes does some classic PS stuff and we get a Bam Bam Gordy appearance, and we also get introduced to the Dynamic Dudes, but neither of those two things are worth watching Sting try to have a wrestling match with the immobile object and Twitter superstar Iron Sheik. Wrestlewar '89 was the worst PPV we have watched thus far in this season, but at least Hulk Hogan never showed up. 

In the intro, the Snark Marks get heated because Dusty pledged his fealty to the Western Bacon Cheeseburger over In N Out burger. For those worried, he is properly taken to task.

00:00 - 15:34 Dusty is wrong about cheeseburgers

15:34 - 2:00:16 WrestleWar 1989

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In our second installment from our NWA/WCW 1989 series, we go down to the bayou for Clash of the Champions 6. After Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat's epic 5-star battle at Chi-Town Rumble, Flair gets his rematch in a two out of three falls match. There are only 4 matches on Peacock's version of this event, and aside from the opener which featured the Midnight Express facing off against the Samoan Swat Team (featuring Fatu before he was Fat), there isn't much else to write home about. Oh, except the fact that The Great Muta was a bad mutafuc...

Also discussed: an update on the AEW madness, The Rock vs Roman Reigns at Wrestlemania, Cody Rhodes winning the WWE title, and Andrew got a new cat! 

00:00 - 20:11 AEW, WWE, Andrew's cat Hobbes

20:11 - 1:54:56 WCW Clash of the Champions 6: Ragin' Cajun

Dusty has long wanted to introduce Andrew to the NWA's 1989 offerings, and we are finally taking the plunge. Things were in a transitional (and sometimes tumultuous) phase following a few changes to WCW including the firing of Dusty Rhodes as booker, but they still had Flair, and they still offered a brand of wrestling that appealed to the classic fan: the characters were believable, the wrestling was believable, and Rick Steiner was in the building. In this episode, we discuss the Chi-Town Rumble from February 1989, which featured a lot of fun and was anchored by a 5-star classic turned in by Flair and Steamboat for the NWA title. 

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00:00 - 25:01 Music, Andrew went to Six Flags

25:01 - 2:12:46 Chi-Town Rumble

Tales From The Territories is Vice's new wrestling series; it's essentially a spinoff from Dark Side of the Ring. In this episode, Jerry Jarrett, Jeff Jarrett, Jerry Lawler, Jimmy Hart, and Dutch Mantel sit at a table and trade stories from their time working the Memphis territory. The territory was ran by Jerry Jarrett and built around Jerry Lawler, and it is widely considered to be one of the most influential wrestling organizations in American history. Andrew and Dusty watched the episode and share their thoughts with you! But first, they discuss Andrew's upcoming trip to Six Flags Magic Mountain, watching TV with subtitles, and whether or not evil dies in the newly-released Halloween movie (expect a bonus episode on Halloween soonish.)

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00:00 - 22:18 - Roller Coasters, Subtitles, Halloween Ends

22:18 - 02:08:30 - Tales From The Territories: Memphis: Where Wrestling Was Real