Listen up!

Class is in session.

A few of my students have written, saying your old professor is bit cranky when it comes to today's product. Fair enough. And true enough. I am. So I searched what I had left of a heart and came up with five things I still love about the wrestling business.

Podcast: Episode 42

In no particular order, here they are:

1) Maria
I'm betting Mrs. Professor isn't reading this week, so I'm going to be honest with the class and say Maria is just about perfect in every sense of the word. Not as perfect as Mrs. Professor, mind you, but an impressive Diva nonetheless. If you've seen her, I don't have to write much more than that. If you haven't, tune into "Raw" Monday night and see what you're missing. Again, she's no Mrs. Professor -- but then again, who is?

2) Saturday Night's Main Event
When I was much younger, this used to be a staple of NBC programming once a month or so, replacing "Saturday Night Live" reruns. I loved it. For some reason, WWE always seemed to step up its game when this show was on, as if Vince McMahon was trying to impress his NBC pal, Dick Ebersol. The greatest match I remember from that series was the night Hulk Hogan had a cage match with Paul Orndorff, and their feet hit the floor at virtually the same time. It was a fantastic finish electrified by a hot crowd on national TV. I hope we see that same energy this Saturday when the series returns to NBC at 11:30 p.m. eastern time.

3) Kurt Angle
How dumb is WWE to let this guy go? Kurt Angle, now in TNA, currently holds all of that promotions' belts. He's the TNA champ, the TNA X-Division champ and the TNA tag champ (without a partner, though). While some say this is lazy booking, there's no other guy in the world who can pull this off than Mr. Angle. Sure, he won't hold all those titles for long, but he'll be just as entertaining losing them as he was winning them (in a big match with Samoa Joe last week). Angle, in my opinion, has elevated himself as the best sports entertainer on the planet. Shawn Michaels is a close second, with Triple H coming in third, Edge fourth and Ric Flair fifth. Why is Angle so great? Because he's a genius in the ring, and even better on the microphone. No one can go from heel to babyface to comedy act as swiftly and adeptly as Angle. Period.

4) ProWrestlingTorch.com
A Minnesota man by the name of Wade Keller owns and operates www.pwtorch.com. It's the best wrestling Web site you'll ever see, and if you haven't checked it out by now, consider yourself suspended from this particular classroom. Keller, a truly nice guy, spends countless hours updating his site and publishing his fantastic newsletter, Pro Wrestling Torch. He's been at it since 1987, and in my humble opinion is the best at what he does. A while back, Keller and your professor approached the E! network about doing a weekly wrestling talk program, but those dopes didn't bite. Personally, I think we were a little ahead of the times, but we went for it anyway. Would you watch a weekly TV show running down what's good and what's bad in the wrestling world? I would -- and you wouldn't need footage from the shows to make it work. Does Charlie Rose need video? Nope. Do "The Sports Reporters" on ESPN need video? Nope. The subject matter carries the half-hour. Back to Keller: check out his site, and if you get hooked on it and never read this column again, that's perfectly fine with me. It's that good.

5) Dusty Rhodes
Dusty Rhodes is a WWE employee, but we simply don't see enough of him. Yeah, he'll come out and do a program here and there (he mixed it up with Randy Orton a few weeks ago), but a guy with his skills on the microphone should have a higher profile. His son, Cody, is new to the promotion and a bit raw. Let's hope Dusty spends more time at ringside with his kid, and stays in front of the camera for a while. What's the use of employing a legend when you only see him a few times a year?

That's it, kids. A quick column this week as summer winds down. Before I go, though, don't forget to download EPISODE 42 of "Old School, New School," the Professor Wrestling podcast. This week, my co-hosts George Schire and Dr. Mike Lano examine the media's reaction to the Brian Adams death, give a thumbs up or thumbs down to Pacman Jones in TNA and tell us what the terms "monster push" and "swerve" mean. As usual, it's another solid show.

Class is dismissed!

(Professor Wrestling is a masked employee of Internet Broadcasting, hailing from Parts Unknown. Got a question, comment, complaint? E-mail him right here. )