DR Ackermann

I've been watching a lot of early 1990 AJPW before Tenryu left. In a number of tags and 6 mans, Jumbo is the 4th or 5th best guy. A lot of times there's really no rhyme or reason to what he does save for the important spots where he hits his marks very well. Tenryu is able to get SO MUCH more out of guys like Inoue and Takagi than Jumbo gets out of Fuyuki and Kawada. Jumbo just seems like he's on cruise control, he does the same bland moves over and over puts on a submission and then tags out before doing it all again when he gets back in.

Jumbo Tsuruta is one of the most underwhelming wrestlers in history for me. While I think he's done some great stuff, his matches are usually way too long and boring for me to enjoy. I also don't understand how Bret Hart got over to the level that he did. His lack of charisma and emotion is extremely distracting.

There are quite a few matches that I wound up loving even more on rewatch. Having a greater understanding of what you are watching can allow you to appreciate the nuances of it that you might not have picked up on before while still having the emotional connection. I loved a bunch of the Hansen/Funk AJPW encounters the first time I saw them and they get better every time for me.

It just means one wrestler is bringing more to the table and working harder, more capably or more intelligently than the other to get the match to where it is. If a guy is green and doesn't really know when to do things and he's in there with a veteran who does, its the veteran's job to carry the other guy to a good match. If you're a limited wrestler who can do a few things and you're in their with someone else who is more capable and he takes those things and builds an intriguing match around them then its a carry job. If one guy is in there to just hit his marks and go home and he's in their with someone who goes above and beyond and it winds up being a great match, then its a carry job. Someone's selling/charisma/heeling/etc. can carry a match. Its not necessarily an insult and its not necessarily something that we as fans can always perceive as happening.

Specifically for the GWE it would have to be Eric Embry/Invader 1 from 86 and Funk/Lawler No DQ from 81 and a whole bunch of Fujinami matches.

I was at Wrestlemania 30 and I just had an OK time. My seats weren't great and the Superdome is a huge arena and I don't have the best eye sight so I brought binoculars and just couldn't get that into any of it. I spent a lot of money and time in a car and I don't know if it was entirely worth it. New Orleans was fun though.

I would have liked to see them try to really elevate Brian Pillman as a babyface in the early 90s with a sustained push near the top instead of squandering him on the undercard. It would have been awesome to see him mixing it up with the Dangerous Alliance.

Vince without a doubt. Sure his character and storylines got played out over time, but at his peak, Vince was a top 10 all-time heel. The Mr. McMahon character is iconic, Stephanie and the rest of the McMahons are not.

Also New Japan multi-man tags

UWF vs New Japan

Really excited to listen to this tomorrow. I was born in Tulsa the year after the UWF folded and have always heard older fans I know, like my step mom, talk about "the good old days." I'm just now getting to see the footage but I've always looked at the UWF and the guys who wrestled there as sort of the 'home team,' if that makes sense.

I would add Steve Williams vs Yoshiaki Yatsu (AJPW 3/24/90) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMNjfmv2evA It might be Yatsu's last good singles match before leaving AJPW and I think Williams' AJPW singles debut.

Its fine if Rusev loses, it just should be someone other than Cena in there beating him.

Triple H vs Booker T

Randy Savage: WHOA YEAH

The whole thing just came down to Vince's and Triple H's egos.

This has got to be the most unintentionally silly match I've ever seen. Everything about it is just weird and overly dramatic and it's being treated 100% seriously.

He doesn't do a lot but he makes it all mean something and fit.

A minimalist does the most with the least amount. That means they make the most out of a small range of "stuff." When I read the word minimalist I immediately thought of Lawler. THE basic element of wrestling is drama which boils down to good vs evil and competition, and Lawler gets to that in his matches and his character, engaging people by making the most out of the least. He always wrestles to fit the match. There may be excess but not in the sense of doibg things that are unnecessary. If Lawler bumps big he makes it mean something. If he does anything it is for effect. Lawler drops the strap and every punch he throws is echoed by the crowd.

Lawler kayfabes better than anyone else

Just saw the Lawler series from 82 and he looks great in it. His timing and brawling are as good as Lawler's. If that series was representative of what he was able to do consistently I could definitely see him making my list. Is there much else of him available?

I randomly saw this on the Network a few months back and was really surprised by how good it was. Like you said, not great, but a really nice surprise. Everyone besides Nash looked really good here. It had me looking out for Faces of Fear matches.

Tatsumi Fujinami vs Ryuma Go 7.27.78 http://www.mediafire.com/?9vtwd208bukbwla vs Ryuma Go 10.2.79 http://theditch.us/FujinamiVsGo10-2-79.avi vs Riki Choshu 4.3.83 http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6dv6d_tatsumi-fujinami-vs-riki-choshu-3-a_sport w/ Kengo Kimura vs Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi 12.12.85 vs Akira Maeda 6.12.86 http://www.mediafire.com/?4mg7ysmc7wq9rs7

The WWE just uploaded a bunch of Divas videos on their YouTube page. I'm guessing in response to the Give Divas A Chance thing.

WWE heels cheat all the time. Excessively IMO. I liked the way that was done because Rusev doesn't need to cheat, it was an even match that he was winning on points, but he heard Lana on the apron and the ref going over, so he kicked Cena in the balls. why not? that's what heels do I'm really not sure where you're coming from with "in the context of a company where heels don't really cheat" when EVERY heel in WWE cheats. I like it better when it's like Rusev tonight, or Mr. Perfect....where these guys are really good and can beat anyone on any given night (cept for Hogan in Perfect's case).....but they are heels because they don't care about breaking the rules when the going gets tough No they don't. Not by traditional wrestling standards. Heels win cleanly all the time, especially dominantly booked heels in Rusev's position.