NintendoLogic

It's not just the bell-to-bell in Omega/Okada, it's the way it progressed the rivalry while leaving the door open for another match between the two. It was Omega's first win over Okada after losing at Wrestle Kingdom and going to a time-limit draw at Dominion. And he did it in under 30 minutes after their previous two matches had gone 47 and then 60. But Okada came in with an injured neck, so the win had an asterisk next to it. And it marked only the second time Omega had hit Okada with the One Winged Angel (he hit it at Dominion, but Okada's foot was on the ropes), so the question of whether Okada could survive the move remained unanswered.

Here's something that tempers my enthusiasm somewhat:

The Wajima match really is that bad. You can literally hear the crowd laughing at Magee's offense at the 1:51 mark.

It looks like they're trying to give Bray a split personality. It kind of reminds me of Abyss and Joseph Park. Is Chris Parks part of the creative team? Also, Rambling Rabbit completely no-sold being eaten. That's worse than Hogan popping up from Vader's powerbomb.

Magee was clearly a hell of an athlete, but he was also nowhere near ready for prime time. He couldn't even take an inverted atomic drop properly, and he kept moving out of position for Bret's offense. With that said, it really is astounding that with his look, size, and physical gifts, nobody could figure out how to draw money with him. I guess the issue was that he needed someone who had experience working with guys like Tiger Mask and knew how to really accentuate his strengths. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone from that period other than Bret who fit that bill. Looking at the house show results on thehistoryofwwe.com, Magee spent 1987 working with the likes of Terry Gibbs and Frenchy Martin. No wonder he never progressed as a worker.

Aja had a MOTYC with Hikaru Shida last year, so she can still go, although probably not on a nightly basis. With that said, it's a midcard trios match in front of a foreign audience, so she'll most likely just serve up her greatest hits. Do some crowd brawling, hit an uraken or two, maybe whack some people with her garbage can.

WWE is in London for the Money in the Bank go-home shows. This should tell you everything you need to know: But who cares about any of the geeks on Raw and Smackdown when the legendary Bret Hart/Tom Magee match is finally set to see the light of day? I have no idea what's going on in Brazil right now, but Arizona recently legalized nunchucks, so there's your topical item for this week.

I've heard from a few places that Taker really does need the money. I don't know the specifics, but I can only imagine what kind of alimony he has to pay after two divorces. That would explain why he's started hustling for outside bookings (and charging ridiculous money from what I hear) as his in-ring career winds down.

They also announced HHH/Orton for the Saudi show. LMAO.

If 90s WCW was the unauthorized fanfic of 80s WWF, does that make the Saudi shows the unauthorized fanfic of 90s WWF?

Two years before the beginning of the Jumbo/Misawa feud, this is the first high-end All Japan six-man. It should come as no surprise that a match with Kawada and three guys who would end up in WAR would have plenty of hate and violence, although most of it comes from Jumbo's team. Kabuki provides the match's highlight when he unloads on Fuyuki with a punch combination that would leave Bill Dundee green with envy. Overall, though, Jumbo is the star of the show, as he plays the ace role to perfection. He shows enough vulnerability against his lower-ranked opponents to make them look credible, but he's always a chop or a big boot away from reasserting dominance and showing that he's The Man. Jumbo shooting an icy glare at Hara after bodyslamming Fuyuki is such a badass spot. This really is the predecessor to the Jumbo/Misawa and NJPW/WAR multi-mans.

I'm surprised there's no thread for this yet. This was my MOTY for 2018, and I think it would have done well in best-of lists for that year if people still paid attention to NOAH. Nakajima and Kitamiya are collectively known as The Aggression, and in this match at least, they're like a modern-day version of the Holy Demon Army. Shiozaki and Kiyomiya are GoKai, and they're the latest iteration of the venerable veteran/rookie pairing. The Aggression come in with a gameplan to target Shiozaki's injured leg while neutralizing the youngster Kiyomiya, and they execute it to perfection. Great selling from Shiozaki (collapsing when Kitamiya tried to ram him into the turnbuckle is the kind of subtle detail you don't see too much anymore), great heel work from Nakajima (staring into Kiyomiya's eyes and grinning while pinning Shiozaki was a particular highlight), just great stuff all around. If you liked 6/9/95 and 12/6/96, you'll probably dig this as well.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the crown jewel of the NJPW/WAR feud. Both members of Team WAR bleed. Chairs and tables are used as weapons. Guys in martial arts uniforms brawl with the wrestlers and each other. The fans pelt the ring with garbage. Tenryu picks a fight with Masa Saito on commentary. At no point is there even a hint of sportsmanship or fair play. To top it all off, Tenryu beats Koshinaka with a powerbomb and keeps powerbombing him after the match until Saito runs in to break it up. This is everything an interpromotional match should be. Hell, this is everything pro wrestling should be. You need to go out of your way to watch this if you haven't already seen it.

Terrible news. I can't even imagine how Wagner must feel right now. It does seem like luchadores die in the ring at disproportionate rates.

At least they still have Kenta Kobashi. Although I wouldn't put it past WWE to try to sign him to a Legends deal within the next two weeks.

Sigh. Looks like I'll have to re-up my Network subscription.

I didn't think it was possible to find a bigger tomato can than Jack Swagger's first opponent, but Bellator managed to top themselves.

You can't really call Jeff Hardy a WWE reject when he left of his own volition. Jeff in TNA is example 1,086,820 of the company's staggering incompetence. The hottest wrestler on the planet fell into their laps and they couldn't do a thing with him.

I don't see how this makes WWE look bad. First of all, trying to pass off a Daytime Emmy as a real Emmy is lame as hell. That's the awards ceremony for crap like game shows and soap operas. But even if you won the Nobel Peace Prize, I'm sure bringing the award with you to a production meeting and putting it on the table would be considered bizarre in pretty much any workplace.

https://www.thewrap.com/aew-turner-tv-deal-all-elite-wrestling-warnermedia-upfront/ Looks like business is picking up.

Replacing all the CrossFit geeks with roided-up cokeheads in tassels won't fix things. A roster full of Ultimate Warriors isn't any better than a roster full of Dean Malenkos. The key is variety. Bret Hart got over in large part by being the straight man in a sea of cartoon characters. Dave made a really good point in the latest Observer. Roman Reigns said on Raw that he doesn't take orders from Vince, he takes them from the WWE Universe. But the fact that he uses corporate buzzwords like WWE Universe shows that he clearly does take orders from Vince. That speaks to the micromanagement that really is the root of WWE's current problems. Since the move to scripted promos, the only star of significance they've produced is John Cena. People talk about how entertaining Daniel Bryan and Becky Lynch are on the mic, but there's no indication that they've meant a thing for business. And the guaranteed TV money means that they don't have to. I truly believe that the only way to learn how to be a star who connects with the larger public is by being forced to sink or swim based on your ability to put asses in seats.

Apparently, the opposite is the case. WWE offered him a new contract that was double his current deal and he turned it down because he wanted to be on the road helping younger talent and didn't just want to sit at home and collect a paycheck.

This is pretty far down the list of things wrong with last night's Raw, but watch this segment. After Seth insisted that there was no chance he would team with AJ, Vince said "Yes you are" and he just stood there and pouted. He looked like a child being forced to do his homework. You couldn't have made him look like a bigger geek if you tried.

Hardly anybody watches WWE, and virtually everybody who does hates it. But networks threw money at them because their other shows are declining even more rapidly. Networks that are somehow sitting on billions of dollars despite having no viewers. Late stage capitalism in a nutshell.

Park and the Lucha Brothers were brought in at the insistence of the wrestlers because the main event scene had gotten stale. Pentagon and Fenix expected a raise for helping to revitalize business, but they got the runaround instead, so now they're gone. When you get right down to it, CMLL and AAA are both Mickey Mouse operations, just in different ways.