NintendoLogic

Underrated relative to what? Every lucha commentator I've seen rates him highly as a star and a worker.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were more people who WWE is still called WWF than who know of Daniel Bryan.

Reviewed Finlay/Samurai and the Portland tag. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41687-fit-finlay-vs-el-samurai-njpw-42392/ http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41688-southern-rockers-vs-scotty-the-body-top-gun-portland-7889/

This Secret Santo pick from Tim Evans pits the future Raven and the former Cuban Assassin up against one of the lesser rock-and-roll pretty boy tag teams of the 80s. Scotty is managed by Jonathan Boyd, who is accompanied by a snake. The Rockers have a valet of their own, but she literally does nothing in this match. In fact, she's barely even visible due to her placement in the corner opposite the hard camera. It's actually Scotty who makes this match. Between him begging to be tagged in when things appear under control only to immediately tag out at the first sign of trouble, interfering behind the referee's back, and dancing like a Chippendale, he does a pretty fantastic job of being an obnoxious little shit you want to see get his comeuppance. The FIP crawling between the heel's legs to make the hot tag is a spot I always mark out for, and Steve Doll has an impressive snap suplex. Unfortunately, the ending is pure Wrestlecrap. After Doll gets thrown to the outside, Scott Peterson goes to check on him and is accosted by Boyd. He runs into the ringpost while fleeing in terror from the snake, allowing Boyd to roll him in the ring to be pinned. If something like that had happened in WCW or TNA, we'd still be talking about it today. In all, this was kind of depressing to watch. The in-ring action is nothing special other than a handful of nifty spots, and the derivative and dated presentation elements give this the feel of a promotion hopelessly behind the times.

This was Matt D's Secret Santo pick. The Youtube link lists the date as 5/23, but that can't be right since this is a TOSJ match and the very famous Liger/Samurai final takes place on 4/30. Anyway, there's nothing too fancy here, just straightforward smashmouth wrestling. From Finlay, we get snug headlocks, stiff elbows, and some incongruous flying offense. From Samurai, we get some leg work (that Finlay completely blows off) and surprisingly decent punches. My favorite Finlay spot is the one where he lifts his opponent up by the hair (or mask in this case) and slams him sternum-first into the apron. There were audible gasps from the audience when he busted it out here. The end comes when Finlay misses a splash from the top rope and Samurai gets the pin with a Japanese leg roll clutch. This wasn't a barnburner by any means, but it is an interesting look at Finlay pretty much on autopilot.

Yeah, it's totally normal and appropriate to call someone a wanker when they commit a minor social faux pas and you're not the slightest bit outraged.

What a silly non-issue this is. It's amazing how many people have such a hate-boner for Dave that they bend over backwards to find things to be outraged by.

If you really care about correcting the historical record, better to raise the issue now than several weeks or months or whatever down the road when no one is paying attention.

Count me among those who are in shock. I was under the impression that he was in fantastic shape for his age, so I expected him to go well into his nineties. The remarkable thing to me is that as far as I know, he had no true enemies in the business nor are there any anecdotes that reflect poorly on him. That's an incredible feat in a business as scummy as professional wrestling.

Austin was cutting promos in the buildup to WM13 about how he didn't know a lot of technical holds but would simply beat Bret into submission. And I always figured Austin got the Octagon Special from Pillman since he was using it as a finisher in 1995 and the two were tight. For the record, the greatest I Quit match of all time is Cena/JBL. In your hearts, you know I'm right.

Sorry I'm late. I had to go out of town for the weekend. For Tim Evans, here's Steve Corino vs. Shinya Hashimoto.

Cherry-picking a handful of counterexamples does not disprove the overall point.

Braun's biological age is relevant because big guys tend to hit the wall and hit it hard in their mid to late 30s.

Asuka was over when she was killing people. It was booking her to be destroyed and win in banana-peel fashion that derailed her.

Braun is actually older than Roman.

I would say he is more Buddy Landell than Gilbert. Even Eddie knew when to stay when the moment was good. Buddy fucked up in the worst possible times for him Come to think of it, No Show Alberto does have a nice ring to it.

Bryan is such a breath of fresh air in the ring.

Where does this leave Absolution?

This is no contest for me. The WM13 match isn't my favorite match of all time (it's not even my favorite Hart/Austin match), but it is the most influential for me in terms of developing my tastes of what I look for in a match. It's the reason I view brawling combined with submissions as basically the ideal wrestling style. Meanwhile, I actively hated Atlantis/V3 the last time I watched it. The never-ending stretch of your-turn/my-turn nearfalls and near-submissions completely killed the match for me. It was like a PWG Cena match times ten.

The solution is to expound at length upon how whoever is being discussed compares to Volk Han or the Crush Gals.

Of course these dorks have to go and cheer Elias.

I can't generate any feelings stronger than indifference for most wrestlers these days, but "too sweet woop woop" has to be the cringiest fanchant of all time. And think of the ground that covers.

I would argue that Reigns constantly be granted unearned title shots has done at least as much damage to him as the perpetually delayed coronation.

People are speculating that WWE promised the Saudis a title change on their show and that's why they held off pulling the trigger at Mania.

I will say this. I'm more intrigued now by WWE than I have been in a good while because I have absolutely no idea what direction they're trying to go. I haven't watched Raw in over three years, but I'll definitely be tuning in tonight. I'm looking forward to sitting back and taking things in as they happen rather than trying to read the tea leaves.