Loss

Hi, I got your 3 PMs from yesterday, but I haven't been online much. I will respond as soon as I get a chance.

I put that here in case anyone saw it before I deleted it, but fine. Here's what I wrote if you're going to call me out on it instead of just letting it be. Not liking an entire style because of a few matches you have seen and haven't liked is similar to not liking a race or nationality of people because you've met a few that are jerks. I'm not saying that to call people who don't like all styles of wrestling racist, but more to make a strong statement about the danger of sweeping generalizations in anything.

I had a response here before that I felt it was best to delete.

He'll be back. Ross will still make blog posts in WWE buzzwords and defend the company at all costs. He'll most likely criticize fans who think he is mistreated at some point too. I don't think he knows any other way.

Congrats FLIK!

I'm with you here. Totally depends on the day. Both arguments for each one over the other are correct.

In general, I'm not a fan of thinking too much about "lucha libre" or "Joshi" or "puroresu" or other wrestling styles too much. It's all just wrestling. Yes, there are often differences, but there are more often similarities. There are different ways to skin a cat, even within lucha libre, or within Joshi. I personally don't get not liking an entire style. Every style has bad matches, and hopefully they all have good ones too. Ultimately, there are only two types of wrestling -- good and bad. I prefer the good stuff.

We will indeed.

Good match and one of the very few complete small show juniors matches we have for 1997. Sadly this doesn't have much heat and this match doesn't ever seem to kick into second gear, despite everyone working hard. Jericho also tries to do a few spots beyond his capabilities and nearly kills Benoit with the apron stun gun from powerbomb position spot he was doing around this time. Liger takes a special pleasure in beating up Dr. Wagner Jr. and finally finishes him off with a top rope brainbuster. Good, but not too special.

Shawn is out with a chair and the European title. What an asshole -- everything about him is detestable. This is the perfect role for him. Shawn wants to tell us all how he became the European champion, but first, he wants to call out the Undertaker. They go through a commercial break and Undertaker is out. A bandaged Helmsley takes a bump on the ramp (he worked overtime on this night) and then Shawn blindsides Undertaker with a chair. Rick Rude and Chyna are also out to inflict some damage. As effective as it is, this Shawn push is way, way out of control.

Another famous angle on a loaded show. Cactus Jack debuts after a really, really great Titantron video. I love "Hi Dude, thanks for having me here" and "I think I am thinking what you think I think you're thinking." I love the intro with the plunder coming through the curtain before Cactus himself. Garbage can shots and fire extinguishers are spots I hate now because they were later so overdone, but it was really new here. This is a really good brawl. Hunter takes some nice bumps and more than holds his own. Chyna keeps getting physically involved and not getting any retribution, but at least she sort of took a bump here. Huge pop for the piledriver through the table finish. All three (wrestlers and Chyna) laid out after the match is the best part.

Last few minutes. Marlena's look when at ringside for Pillman is funny. Catch the subtle emasculation of the Hart Foundation as top heels, with Jim Ross making a point that "at least the Hart Foundation has family values". The fix is in. Owen celebrates his win and dedicates the win to Bret Hart when Austin attacks him from behind before being surrounded by police. Vince grabs a mic and asks the police to back off and wants to talk to Austin. He tries to reason with him and for the first time ever, eats a stunner for his trouble. Vince and Austin are both awesome in this, but as a fan at the time, I will admit that I thought Vince looked like the wrong babyface here (and even thought that for big parts of the feud). Now I get it. What a great angle!

The winner of Hell in a Cell (or is it Hell in the Cell? -- they can't seem to figure it out) will now face the WWF champ at Survivor Series. Shawn does the same recap promo he seems to be doing every week at this point, but gets great heat. Shawn is awesomely obnoxious in this segment.

Hogan is now cutting promos in a sleeveless Ric Flair robe and taking major shots at him in his interviews, which would be a really great way to build another Hogan vs Flair match if they had any plans at all of running the match again at this point. As it stands, it's just petty.

Piper sets up Hall vs Luger at Havoc with Larry Zbyszko as the special referee. He does a fine job hyping the cage match with Hogan at Halloween Havoc. He says he's had more cage matches than Brigham Young had wives, which is a funny line for Salt Lake City. This is the closest thing to a focused promo he has done all year.

Scott Hall is starting his surveys, but I don't think he's formally collecting data yet. Hall talks about how there's no way Lex Loser could beat him and blames that washed up has been Larry Zbyszko for his loss. Hall then says he wants Luger right now but Luger doesn't show up. Hall then targets Larry and Larry leaves the booth and decides to confront them. Larry stops short of entering the ring and having to fight off Hall and Syxx, perhaps wisely so.

I wouldn't interpret the Rock & Rolls winning as Michaels hate. I think it's just that even if people like the Rockers, the Rock & Rolls are still better.

This is hard for me to answer because I have a tough time figuring out who's eligible, but Regal seems like a strong pick. As for big matches, Regal gelled well with Shinya Hashimoto, who is quite possibly the best dome show wrestler ever, so I'm not convinced that Regal's style is incompatible with main events. Maybe it would be a departure in some ways from what he is used to doing, but Regal is more versatile than he gets credit for being. Does Liger qualify? If Liger qualifies, Liger is the clear answer. But Liger isn't a guy I want to pick here because he had all the advantages and opportunities typically given to main event wrestlers to have good matches and performances, so I think it's a moot point that misses the spirit of the thread.

Footage of the Horsemen parody in black and white as an NWO paid announcement. They have graphics of the liver spot and dog spot, which is hilarious.

Last few minutes. Crowd is surprisingly hot for this when Disco crotches Wright, but Disco isn't a good enough worker to keep them engaged after that. Disco pins Wright after they both attempt a crossbody at the same time and wins the TV title. Jacqueline comes out and wants a shot at the TV title! I didn't realize she was in the company this late. When did she jump?

No one knows anything about this Goldberg guy. This is his debut. He had the rep as a Steve Austin ripoff at the time but really, all they had in common was the bald head. It took a few months for him to really catch on, but he makes an impression with the crowd and looks like a star right away.

I still think Alex Wright has more rhythm. At least he has a purpose for being there.

Maybe the hatingest (just made up a word) match I've ever seen in Joshi. In the top handful of cage matches ever. This is a total street fight, but I like how they work the submission holds into the match anyway, as they are so vicious that they don't seem out of place at all. The spot where they brought what I think was the guardrail into the ring is too much spot setup without much payoff and the unprotected chairshots that don't even get a pop are stupid, but I loved just about everything else about this. Rage in the Cage is right! That Ito visual with the double stomp is one for the ages.

Not as great as Bret/Undertaker as a wrestling match, but it makes up for a lot of that in being a pretty crazy emotional rollercoaster. Shawn does his usual flashy bumps and Davey Boy gives an inspired performance. As infuriating as the interference is (Rude and Hunter actually shoved Hebner out of the way at one point so they could interfere and WHERE IS THE HART FOUNDATION?), they went for the jugular and got the crowd worked into a frenzy. This is also noteworthy for Davey Boy being told he was going over and dedicating the match to his sister at ringside who was dying of cancer and Shawn refusing to do the job, giving us the result he got. Shawn got pelted with garbage here and this is pretty much the most hated I've ever seen a wrestler. The post-match angle has crazy heat. HHH leeching off of Shawn's heat is pretty funny.