Superstar Sleeze

Hey can you let the me and my Sleeze Synod (those would be my fans) know at what time the promo starts so they don't have to waste their time with the rest of the podcast? TORCHED~! Also, can someone keep stats on how much this show's viewership skyrockets in comparison to the "Super" Shows (the only true Super Show is one that talks about me) that when in 20 years when there is a Brainbuster Hall of Fame, there will be hard evidence of me being a bonafide draw. Grimmas, I look forward to meeting you and then kicking your ass, brutha.

Oh no, my bragging rights are immortal because there can only be ONE first ever and you are so lucky to be reading the words of The First Ever Winner of The First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster!

I am in Camp Hammer all the way, BABY!

I just got a free burrito from Chiptole because I can WOOOOOOOOOOOOO really well! Man, I love Ric Flair and I love pro wrestling!

So how much Harley Race as a babyface exists? Is Central States pretty much the only place he worked face? It dawned on me watching this match that Race is way more entertaining to me as a face with a ton of spots and tough punches than he is as a bumping, stooging champion. I think kicking ass would have fit his gravely voice and persona better thus if he was a face he would have gotten to show that side of him. It is a fun exhibition of what could have been if Harley Race was a kick ass babyface. Cool watch. Also love the bounty angle come around to fuck with Harley on this go around. They need to bring back the bounty angle. Imagine if Daniel Bryan had a bounty placed on his head by the Authority this past Rumble...missed opportunities.

As The First Ever Winner of The First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster, I have to say both of those are fucking awesome! Great work, Word Hoard, making the show look good, makes the champ look good.

Team Cena (John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, The Big Show, Ryback, Rowan) vs The Authority (Seth Rollins, Luke Harper, Rusev, Kane and Mark Henry) - WWE Survivor Series 2014 When Survivor Series Elimination Matches are done right they are hard to top. A booker can take advantage of more moving pieces in terms of the number of wrestlers in a match and the number of finishes afforded to him. It allows for more pairings and no dull moments with each tag there is a new combination. The arc follows a more traditional sports-oriented approach where there is a scoreboard and teams fall behind and have to work hard to catch back up. I think this match should go down as one of the best Survivor Series Tags of all time. The hardest thing for Survivor Series tags to overcome ususally is the stigma that they are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. While it turned out to be true that this Survivor Series tag was just as inconsequentlal as most, at the time, this match really felt huge and meaningful to everyone in the match, outside the ring, the announcer and the live audience. I would say in terms of big match feel this ranked only behind Cena/Lesnar at Summerslam and the Bryan matches at Wrestlemania. Everyone played their roles to a T. Triple H and Stephanie just absolutely and totally rocked it on the outside. I loved HHH firing up Mark Henry and really laying it on thick only for Henry to walk into the WMD. Damn! It was the perfect start to the match. Triple H goes from all revved up to total dejection. The heels fell flat on their faces. The babyfaces start hot and the crowd is whipped into a frenzy and they never really let go. One of my biggest hang-ups watching this live was the treatment of Ryback. I am a Ryback fan. When Ryback was at nadir of his career teaming with Curtis Axel against the Dust Brothers for the umpteenth time at the Money In The Bank, I got a "Feed Me More" chant started because damnit, I was not going to let him die. They redebut him and he feels like a big deal. He is presented as the piece that will tip the scales in either team's directions. Then he is the first person pinned on Team Cena!?!?!?! Do I think that if you switch Ryback and Big Show's roles that the story, the match and the aftermath would be 1000000x better? Yes. Did I overreact and basically underrate a match because of it? Yes. I just wanted to get that out there. I love that babyfaces got a long shine by modern WWE standards. This is what Rollins brings to the table that really not other heel does right now. He can pinball bump like a muthafucka and really create energy for a babyface. Whether it is being swatted by the Big Show or Ryback tossing him up, it takes the onus off the babyface to solely get the crowd involved. To be fair to their treatment of Ryback, he does get a huge run of offense before he is eliminated. Rollins gets tossed around. Harper takes a stalling suplex. Kane comes in gets his ass kicked. Hell, Rusev looks vulnerable before in all the chaos Rollins takes advantage with a timely Curb Stomp and eliminate him. I love the heels taking advantage of a melee like that. What is interesting is I remembered that Rusev was presented as the game-changer for the heels, but that was incorrect it was always Harper. Rusev was special because any nearfall or any time he looked vulnerable triggered a big reaction, but it was Harper that actually turned the tide for the heels. Show actually looked strong against Rusev, but it was a well-timed dropkick by Harper that gave the heels their first advantage. The Big Show face in peril segment was the lull in the match, but it was to set up Dolph's first entry into the match and he was supposed to be the star of the show. Ziggler gets a quick burst of offense before Harper plants him. The Ziggler face in peril set up the in-match swerve and the finish beautifully even if it was a bit boring. Rusev busting out the knees again was awesome! After a Ziggler hope spot nearfall, a melee ensues, but this time does not benefit the heels as Rusev belly flops onto an announce table while HHH was egging him on. Triple H's frustration at Rusev not being able to make it to his feet and J & J desperately, but futilely trying to carry Rusev to the ring was the great character work that enhanced the atmosphere of this match. The babyfaces are up at this, but they are not soaring quite as high as earlier in the match. Down 4-3, Rollins took the match into his own hands and executed Shield tactics that being create havoc and always press. The curb stomp to Cena to save Kane forced Cena to tag in Rowan. I did not even notice how awesome Harper/Rowan was. Harper is fucking amazing. It was just a gnarly powerhouse fight. Again, Rollins took advantage and flew in with a knee to the side of the head so that Harper could collect the victory. This all sets up the Big Show turn beautifully. Ziggler is out on the floor from his face in peril and Cena is staggered from the Curb Stomp. It is effectively 3-on-1 and BOOM! Awesome in-match heel turn, logically sound. Triple H handshake was great and Steph doing the Yes! Chant to Cena was awesome. Loved the St. Louis crowd chanting for Randy Orton twice. A member of the main roster is actually over now that is awesome! This is the part of the match I expected to hate, but I actually thought Ziggler was really, really good in this. I expected it to be dead-fish sell and then zero to sixty, rinse, lather, repeat. I thought he did a great job actually building to climaxes and not switching shit off and on. The segment with Kane was worked beautifully. Kane looks like it is a slam dunk, Ziggler staggers and hits his KO blow to eliminate. He has life and the crowd and HHH & Steph respond accordingly. The worst part of the match is actually this Harper segment. Harper mauls him and then loses to a roll-up. It is really hard to book this middle segment. Either scratch it or they could have had Ziggler beat Harper like he did Kane and then when Kane comes in he just destroys him no selling. The Harper beating made it look too incredulous when Ziggler got the roll-up. I thought they did a great job in the Rollins segment building to everything. Rollins was on top, but Ziggler kept hitting more and more moves. Ziggler really paced his offense well and he seemed to be getting stronger with every shot. The interference was well-paced. Ziggler gets a close nearfall and here come the stooges which sends Steph into HHH. Ziggler gets the Zig Zag and HHH says fuck it and Pedigrees him. I wish it was Orton that came out and RKO'd HHH, but Sting was pretty cool. Just do not give a single fuck about Sting/HHH. The finish pretty much sucks because they had built Ziggler into a believable babyface winner over Rollins and he just needed a bit of help like an RKO to Trips, but instead it became all about HHH/Sting, which is too bad. The aftermath and the finish take a lot of wind out of the sails of this one, but for the vast majority of this match is incredibly compelling and you really did not know what would happen next. Everything felt urgent and immediate. The babyfaces were on fire early and you thought they could run away with this. Rollins using Shield tactics to create opportunities for his partners was greta heel strategy. Harper being the heel stud badass was great. The Big Show turn even if Ryback would have been better was freaking awesome. Hell, even the majority of the Ziggler run was some of the best Ziggler ever as he actually modulated his selling and bursts of offense well. Very, very entertaining and like most WWE matches wish they followed up on this better! ****1/4

Parv, those are mighty fine comments and I really appreciate them that's exactly what I seek to achieve. DaWho, I have only watched the 88 Real World Tag League Final and a couple of the Choshu tags so I can't comment in good conscience yet, but if I have some time I will look into them.

Bayley rocked that fatal 4-way and I think she stole the show from Sasha Banks. She was a great fired-up babyface and was really exciting to watch. Yes, I agree with Pete and Johnny. Bayley is more than a silly character. She is the eternal optimist and even though everyone thinks she is naive or innocent or what have you, when it comes to between the bells, she has her head down and is going to be ferocious. What the fuck was up with Corey Graves and Becky Lynch? I mentioned it in the main thread. Pete, it is Metal or Devil Horns. I really like chicks that head bang, but then I found out she was more into punk and grunge and as a metalhead totally lost interest in her. She was brutal whenever she needed to run in the ring. Some decent throws. Rock-a-bye-Baley was an awesome call, Will. Hey, Johnny, leave us Bostonians like Albert alone.

I hate listening to my own voice, but I may just need to listen to the middle now. We just scratched the surface of Rotundo is the shits, just wait until we get to the New US Express with Spivey, most boring tag team ever and rightfully forgotten. Thanks Chad for the praise. Johnny or you can look at it like Lord Al being a holier than thou heel because victim-blaming is always heelish.

Was it widely known the Attitude Adjustment was the name for Luger's pile driver in 91? I just found out watching his tag match at Starrcade 91.

Where the hell has this John Cena been for the majority of his career? Compared to some heels, Rusev has been downright nice to Cena. Cena just absolutely went ape shit! I loved it! Definitely the best feud going today and I feel like they have only scratched the surface. I don't think they will blow their wad in a week and I really hope this gets extended to Wrestlemania! Good stuff!

Now, I am all caught up on advertising my blog pieces: The first looks at the Best of Pro Wrestling NOAH from 2000-2002 with links to all major matches during the years even if they are not in the main blog. I love Kobashi's run on top, but these may be my favorite years from NOAH. It felt fresh from All Japan with a different look, some new characters and some wrinkles in match length here and there. The Akiyama push out of the gate beating Misawa and Taue on the same night and then drilling Kobashi after match and then the following match choking Kobashi out just set the tone. Ultimately, it grew lethargic, but those first couple years were just plain awesome. Kenta Kobashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Takeshi Rikio vs. Jun Akiyama, Yoshihiro Takayama, Kentaro Shiga - NOAH 9/25/00 ***1/4 Standard fun NOAH six-man. Kikuchi stands out from the pack. Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs Hashimoto & Alexander Otsuka - NOAH 1/13/01 ***1/2 It is Hashimoto vs Misawa. If that is not must-see, I don't know what is. Rat Boy is badass per usual. Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama & Vader - NOAH 1/13/01 **** #88 of 100 Huge Vader Lariats and even bigger NODOWAS~! Scariest Vadersault ever. Great tag team match. Mitsuharu Misawa vs Jun Akiyama - GHC Hvywt Championship SemiFinals 04/11/01 ***3/4 Sprint! Super fun, NOAH just kept getting longer and longer. Love these early shorties. GHC Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa vs Akira Taue - NOAH 05/18/01 ****1/2 #34 of 100 It is Taue so efficient and compact at no expense to a great story. Taue delivers a great full court press. Tamon Honda vs Daisuke Ikeda - NOAH 09/01/01 ***1/2 Wrestler vs striker. Fun NOAH mid-card bouts back when those used to happen. GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshinari Ogawa vs Yoshihiro Takayama - NOAH 9/7/02 ****1/2 #21 of 100, 2002 NOAH Match of the Year Best heel vs heel match ever? Bully vs Rat Boy. So different but both epitomize why I love wrestling. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/defenders-of-faith-akira-taue-mitsuharu.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WWE NXT is something I have heard so much about, but I never had time to really invest in the project. I finally took the time to watch all 4 specials of 2014 and really loved how fun, different and breezy the product was. I really thought the first couple episodes epitomized pro wrestling with the focus on wins & losses, pride & respect and fun & outrageous characters. I have become a huge Sami Zayn and women's wrestling fan because of NXT. Nothing better than Sasha Banks winning the Women's title last week! Well-deserved! Match Listing: Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14 ****1/2 Cesaro best heel performance. Zayn rocks as the never say die face. A Matter of Respect. MOTYC. NXT Women's Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14 FIGHT! Paige was vicious, just gnarly kicks. Emma is underrated. Best women's match of the year. Charlotte vs Natayla - NXT Takeover 5/29/14 Vacant NXT Women's Championship ***1/2 A statement on what the division could be. Felt too much like an exhibition. NXT Champion Neville vs Zayn vs Kidd vs Tyler Breeze - NXT Takeover 9/14 Decent action, but loved the finish. Finish sets up Zayn vs Neville perfectly. NXT Women's Champion Charlotte vs Sasha Banks -NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 ***1/2 Sasha Banks is Da Boss! Great heel performance early. Finish stretch went too long. NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 Sami finally wins the big one in grand fashion with an incredibly dramatic finish. NXT on fire with finishes! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/a-flair-for-inzayn-sami-zayn-charlotte.html

Breeze is my kinda character and have been a fan as soon as I heard Mmm Gorgeous was his catchphrase. Up until that match, I did not think he had much to offer in matches other than be an "opportunist" heel. Tag match reminded me why I never liked Sin Cara. Even my main man, Kalisto seemed off. I am behind Kalisto as the big breakout star of this NXT class. He will be so versatile from a booking perspective as a utility babyface and he will be super over. Love his potential. Baron/Bull lacked heat. Baron strikes me as totally useless. Bull seems like he has potential, but he needs to get meaner. Put me in the Balor/Neville was an entertaining Indy Spotfest camp. Neville reminds me a lot of the Dynamite Kid. It is all about offense to him and selling is just getting in the way of him hitting his next explosive spot. He would be best served in a tag team either as a heel or a hot tag. He is useless at selling. I did not see upping the ante at all. He hit a fucking double stomp to the head!!! That's the finish, if not it is just MOVEZ~! for the sake of MOVEZ~! There were no transitions, it was just hitting shit for the sake of it. I have seen only two Balor matches and seems perfectly fine. Like to see what he would do in a brawl or a championship match where he is the underdog and needs to sell. Sample size is too small for me to render judgment. LOVED the Women's Fatal 4-Way. Match of the night for me! My girl, Sasha Banks doing it like a Boss and taking the title was awesome. I have to admit Bayley stole the show. She showed more intensity in that match than just about any body on the roster. She was a great fired up babyface. I loved the singles match against Charlotte as a sort of Flair vs Sam Houston TV match. After this performance, Bayley is not Sam Houston, she is the real deal. So what is Corey Graves' beef with Becky Lynch. He seems nominally heel for the most part, but man did he loathe her. I like chicks that headbang so I am cool with the character. She had some nice throws, but she was just there for me. I really like how Charlotte was presented as a world-beater in this. It was only by being outnumbered (Lynch/Banks into LED) or Super Belly-To-Belly Suplex/Sasha Crossface that was able to put Charlotte in danger. Sasha winning relatively cleanly surprised me (yes Bayley's move was crucial for her to apply the crossface). I am a huge fan of The Boss especially the character work, but that celebration needed way more taunting. I mean Charlotte was crying. Mock her! It was too much of a babyface reaction, but just picking nits. Great match! So if the Women's Fatal 4-Way was the match of the night where does that leave Zayn/Owens. Honestly, until the finish salvaged it, I was not feeling it. I really did not feel the hate coming from either of them. If I am really pissed at my friend, am I going to hit a Blue Thunder Bomb? Credit where credit is due, Zayn was rocking with the rights to the head for the most part, but I felt like he was going up against any heel when he was making his comebacks. I thought the beginning was best part until the finish with Zayn getting fed up and hitting the swandive over the ref that acted like a screen. The Owens heat segment was very good, but the transition out of it was pretty weak. Zayn's bumping and selling ensured this match would be great. The run between the heat segment and the finish just did not much for me. They were hitting their signature moves. Once the concussion angle kicked in off the split legged moonsault, I was 100% behind this match. Zayn's glassy-eyed selling was perfect and loved Owens just suffocating with stiff strikes. The powerbombs were sick and a perfect way to end it. It is a great match, but I do not see as a Match of the Year Contender come December. EDIT: I was disappointed by this NXT crowd after how amazing they were for Zayn/Neville. I wrote a piece about how much it restored my faith that crowd not cared about Zayn winning, but they cared how he won. They did not want him to compromise himself to win the title by using the championship belt. I was disappointed how many people cheered Owens. At first I really liked how the Fight Owens Fight was drowned out by Ole Ole Chants. The problem was without Zayn offense you were only going to embolden the Owens fans. Would think that a longer, angrier babyface shine would have made for a better match and crowd dynamics.

I would love that! Definitely beats 20 minute HHH promos every week

NXT Champion Paige vs Emma - NXT Arrival 2/27/14 Sorry Nattie/Charlotte, this is the women's match of the year for me. Paige is so good at intensity compared to the rest of the women's division. I was watching the match with Brie from this past week's RAW and Paige looks like the only one on the roster male or female who cares if she wins or loses. Poor Emma, I maybe biased because I think she is super cute, but I really like her as a wrestler. I think she was really good as the underdog in this match. Paige gets right up in Emma's face and piefaces her. This is definitely the hottest start to a women's match in quite some time. I loved Paige's dropkicks to midsection. I really wish she would bring back her midsection work. Emma is looking for that slingshot, but Paige blocks into the chinlock, which kills the match a bit. I love the Paige spot where people catch her foot and she takes a header. Emma gets the first part of the Emmalock with the slingshot, but Paige counters. Again, Emma takes out Paige's base, which makes sense since Paige is a giant. She is a long drink of water. Emma runs through some good babyface offense that riles the crowd like the Dilemma and Emmamite Sammich. I really loved the surfboard especially Paige's selling. Paige rocks Emma with an elbow on the apron out of desperation, but Emma still in control and hits a powerbomb. Emma is slapping Paige around, fuck I love this. This feels like a fight! Paige hits a wild slap. HOLY SHIT KICK TO THE MIDSECTION! Page Turner, but it only gets two! Paige debuts the Scorpion Crosslock to get the submission victory. This was just a gnarly fight between two badass women. I loved this match. There was nothing cute. It was a bomb throwing sprint. Paige was going to destroy Emma's midsection and Emma looked to take out Paige's base. Emma got off a nice string of offense, but did not have enough in the tank. Paige was able to hit a wild slap and wicked kick to the midsection. Women's match of the year. Damn what a fight! I am so pumped for Paige vs Nikki. ****

Cesaro vs Sami Zayn - NXT Arrival 2/14 NXT is where pro wrestling lives, baby! Where has this Cesaro been on the main roster? No, it is not completely booking's fault. I am taking that bully mentality and those violent heel tendencies. Cesaro is damn great wrestler, make no mistake about it, but he has the same problem that many midcard heels on the main roster have. They do NOT do anything heelish in the context of the match. This is why "This is awesome" is so prevalent because there can't be good without evil and no one is evil in the ring. On this night, Cesaro was a total, unmitigated, unadulterated prick. Zayn is the consummate babyface. He is the lovable underdog character that you believe can win, but know it is not going to be easy. You know he is going to leave it all in that ring and you will never be disappointed by Zayn win, lose or draw. Watch the two out of three falls match first, before you watch this match. Ok, you watched it now, good. Unlike most modern WWE series of matches, this series actually builds layers on top of other matches. The only WWE series that comes close recently is Cena/Lesnar. The beginning of this match was probably my favorite beginning to any match of 2014. It was just so perfect. Zayn has proven from the previous matches that his best chance to elude Cesaro with his quickness, but now being familiar with Cesaro he is combining his natural elusiveness with actual scouting experience. Cesaro shows him up early with his power and gives him a playful slap to the back of the head that gets a rise out of everyone. Cesaro goes for the Giant Swing, but Zayn eludes it with a armdrag to the outside. Zayn goes flying out onto Cesaro and it is fastbreak offense that gets the crowd rocking. Cesaro nips in the bud by catching Zayn off the top and into a backbreaker. Cesaro is just in total bully prick mode throwing Zayn around on the outside and he looks to use the post, but Zayn yanks Cesaro into the post with his feet. Zayn looks to repeat his awesome dive through the turnbuckles, EUROPEAN UPPERCUT! HOLY SHIT! Cesaro had it scouted. Now, we get Cesaro going back to the post and wrapping around the post. Cesaro working the knee was incredible and some of his best work in the WWE. Zayn is killing it selling, but also mixing in hope spots. I loved the whiff on the enziguiri triggering the single leg crab. I love sequences like that. His next spot was for Zayn was his split legged moonsault caught by Cesaro and slams him into the ramp. Damn! That was actually credible countout finish tease and you really feel Zayn's grit and determination to return to the ring. Zayn's first big score is the Exploder into the turnbuckles. I agreed that Zayn needed to get hit some offense at this point in the match, but I thought it was a bit too easy for Zayn and felt more like it was his turn than him earning it. Cesaro goes back to the knee to cut off Zayn’s string of offense and applying a leg wrench using his neck as a fulcrum. Then you move to another interesting aspect of the characters. Cesaro starts to get a little cocky and Zayn takes advantage with roll up out of the Giant Swing. I love how Zayn fights during the Swing; it really makes for an awesome visual and puts over Zayn’s character. During a sloppy Cesaro cover Zayn slides Cesaro over for a two count. Cesaro almost more pissed at himself for letting that happened, crushes Zayn’s head with a double spot that had me popping like crazy. Zayn has another burst of offense using a hurricanarana off the top to set up his Yakuza Kick (I could not understand what Zayn’s name for it is.). Zayn won the first fall of the last match with that move. 1-2-NO! OH shit, you just gave Cesaro your best shot and that has to take a lot of wind out of your sails. Cesaro starts to obliterate with European Uppercuts and Zayn is just rocked, but won’t stay down. Zayn has one last burst of burst and the fists start flying. He throws a wicked German. Can he pull it off? I love Zayn’s selling with him holding his mouth, fighting through the pain and showing great fire looking for that Yakuza Kick, but Cesaro demolishes him with a big boot. Cesaro throw him up and European Uppercut only get one, but Cesaro will not be deterred and hits a roaring European Uppercut and Neutralizer for the win! Zayn and Cesaro just crushed it out there. If there is any NXT match as good as this, then hot damn I am going to be in for one helluva run. Cesaro showed some of his best character work here as an arrogant bully. Zayn’s story of craving that respect and proving himself by defeating the main event bully made for a great hook. He fought to the very end, but eventually succumbed to Cesaro. Then Cesaro comes back to the ring and gives him that respect in the form of a hug. This is a perfect representation of how to get someone over by losing. Everyone came out looking better from this masterpiece. ****1/2

Charlotte vs Natayla - NXT Takeover 5/29/14 Vacant NXT Women's Championship I can understand why this match is being pointed to as what the women's division can be if probably promoted, why it is being lauded as the greatest women's match in WWE canon and a turning point for women being taken seriously under WWE umberella. This is not just a match that is being trumpeted by WWE.com as a means to canonize (thanks Charles) this as a great/historic match; it finished #20 in Voices of Wrestling poll for 2014. WWE took the women seriously and in turn so did the pundits. I think that is the strength of this match more than anything than they did in the ring. This is the first women's match since Trish/Mickie/Lita that felt like it had a big fight feel. You had the Nature Boy going crazy at ringside cheering on his daughter and the stoic Hitman coaching up his niece. The announcers treated the match seriously and the crowd was fully invested in the outcome. I was at the Royal Rumble during what I thought was a really good Bellas vs Nattie/Paige tag match where you could hear a pin drop and no one gave one fuck about the match. The crowd is crucial in developing that atmosphere they wanted for this match. Honestly, this match felt like an exhibition to me. I think the cool story for a while was Nattie's submission ability against Charlotte's length. Yes, Nattie could grab the holds, but Charlotte was too damn long for Nattie to be able to hold her in those holds. Still, the match lacked quality transitions. I am a huge fan of chain wrestling that gets chippy and we get that with some nice slaps and then Charlotte smoking her with a spinning back chop. RIC FLAIR IS HYPED! He is all over the fallen Nattie, Wooing in her face after he she had that audacity earlier in the match. Then Nattie is just running the ropes and taking control. This is my next problem with the match. Women need to accentuate their positives and hide their weaknesses like any other wrestler. So just because men run the ropes, does not mean you should. Nattie with her little legs looks ridiculous when she is trying to run the ropes and Charlotte has to wait for her. This is something I noticed about the Charlotte/Banks match is that Charlotte is so athletic that she is showing up her fellow women. She can run the ropes and do convoluted sequences and look badass. Making Banks do those sequences or making Nattie try to keep up by running the ropes exposes both competitors. I like the figure-4 headlock a lot and Nattie trying to escape only to have Charlotte roll through showed how Charlotte's natural length thwarted Nattie. Then you get bullshit like Charlotte hitting a dropkick only for Nattie to hit a butterfly suplex. I liked the Charlotte Flair Flip into Nattie blasting her off the apron with a forearm. Nattie should focus on strikes, submissions and throws and forget about running. Charlotte whips her off the apron in a nasty bump. Then Charlotte misses the moonsault and Flair losing his shit. Flair should be her full-time manager, he adds a lot to this match. Nattie applies the Sharpshooter, but Charlotte reverses into the Figure-4. This was the worst figure-4 sequence I have ever seen and actively detracted from the match for me. Charlotte applied it and just because Nattie rolled through onto her back does not mean she is applying pressure. From there, they just start no-selling it and look confused. Then they trash talk and it is like somebody needs to start selling because this looks ridiculous. I am surprised they did not have Nattie properly reverse the pressure because that is actually a Sharpshooter (is just a standing reverse figure-4) and it would have been a counter that got a big pop. Anyways, Charlotte hits Bow Down to the Queen a way better name than Natural Selection to win the match. I feel like Paige/Emma had way more intensity and Charlotte/Banks had more interesting character work. Both of those matches felt like struggles. This match just felt like they were showcasing what women's wrestling could be rather than looking to win a match. ***1/2

No sell is a bit strong. He sold it after the kicks. Having seen a lot of KENTA in late 2000s, that was not KENTA no selling. It was perfectly fine and he was fighting through the pain. I was waiting for to fly around the ring at a million mile per hour and he didn't so kudos. KENTA in a WWE ring has been one of the surreal things for me over the past year. I really like Breeze's character work. This is the first time, I thought he showed promise of being something more than just another pretty face. I hope he builds on it. The match was too abbreviated to be anything other than good, but it was a good showing for both.

NXT Champion Adrian Neville vs Sami Zayn - NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 NXT crowds are far from perfect, but for this match they were undoubtedly perfect. This match goes from a normal MOVEZ~! match to a great match and a star-making performance for Sami Zayn because this crowd was totally invested in the Sami Zayn character. They also proved me wrong. The past couple of years my confidence had been shaken that babyfaces could exist in this cynical, jaded wrestling climate. When Sami Zayn had the chance to blast Neville with the championship belt, they all chanted "NO!" in unison throughout the segment. They cared about how Zayn won the match and that meant a lot to me. It restored my faith that real babyfaces can still exist in this world. The pop for his victory would have been the feel good moment of the year if not for the amazing Daniel Bryan story that began the year. The match also represented something that I personally fear the growing homogenization of American and Japanese wrestling. The match felt like a very good Pro Wrestling NOAH main event circa 2009, more than a big time WWE match. You had these moves alone: Split Leg Asai Moonsault, Kawada Kicks, a convoluted Blue Thunder Bomb, Koji Clutch (called by the announcer as that!), Dragonrana, Half Nelson Suplex, and Exploder into the turnbuckles. Of course, the most telling sign was the strike exchange. It was such a barrage of moves that I felt that the humanity of the match sometimes was stripped from it. The Zayn story was sometimes lost in getting to next spot. Kudos to the crowd for never faltering and always making this about Zayn with their constant exhorting of Zayn and Ole Chants. Besides the finish, I liked the beginning of the match the most because it exploited the more interesting parts of the story: Zayn's confidence and crowd dynamics. Neville was doing all the little things to mitigate Zayn's crowd advantage and stop him from getting out of the gates hot. The chain wrestling was very entertaining and a great way to bottle Zayn up. Then he would get into his heads with the front handsprings to show him up. Neville gets too cocky is caught with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Zayn goes on that early fast break run with a split leg Asai moonsault. There is a weak transition that allows Neville to get back on top. Again, Neville is bottling Zayn's excitement up with a reverse chinlock and kneedrops to the face. Again, Neville cocky hits some playful kicks to the face before the Kawada Kicks. Zayn hits a nice swandive to the outside. I liked how Zayn was not letting Neville breathe and forced his advantage. After this, it got a little move trade-y. The setup for the Powerbomb was lifting from Japanese in a very good way. I liked how Neville had to use a forearm sledge, withstand a Zayn counter, and kick him in the head to hit the powerbomb. That is pro wrestling at its best, having to earn that move. As much as I may be complaining, I marked out for the DRANGONRANA~! I just think it would have looked even cooler if it was not surrounded with other standard big spots. The ref bumps were perfect and returned the match back to the story. The crowd was on point telling Zayn to not worry about the ref only to eat a thrust kick and the Dragonrana. The crowd was so pumped for that kick out. Then again during the aforementioned "Should I blast him with the belt or not?". The crowd pleading with Zayn not to do it only for Neville to sneak in with the roll up. These were great false finishes. Zayn winning with the Yakuza Kick was a spectacular moment after not being able to win the big one during his career. He pulled out all the spots in this one and still held himself to his moral code. It was nice to see fellow Quebecois, Kevin Steen (now Kevin Owens) and Pat Patterson celebrate with him. Even Nevilled embraced Zayn. However, just as they were going off the air, supposed best friend Kevin Owens threw Zayn down on the back of his head on the ramp and then brutally powerbombed him on the apron (that's just Indy, ). I thought these NXT shows needed a big angle to hook you into the next show and this was perfect. ****1/4

Honestly, don't think I have seen this one. I think I have seen the Heat Wave match where they do the same go through the ramp spot, but Taz ends up the victor. I just remember a lot of arena brawling and it sucking. Apparently, I watched the wrong rendition. Hell in a Cell '98 is about two spots. I know people argue against that mindset, but for me it is about those spots and it is something people should see before they die. I love the use of elevated ramp in any promotion for all the reasons Charles mentioned. I loved to see more retired UFC fighters in pro wrestling. I know the reason against is because it makes WWE look like senior cricuit or amateur, but is it really different than football players that get injured or just cant make it. I think Chael Sonnen or others would be awesome as cocky shoot-style gimmick. I think WWE has proven that if you say it enough, you can get people to believe it see Edge or Shawn Michaels as the greatest wrestler ever. WWE can still work people if it seems true. Another match I have never watched. The Invasion actually killed my love of wrestling because of how much a WCW fan I was. It was only my Dad getting a cable scrambler in early 2003 and taping Wrestlemania XIX for me on our VCR. It totally rekindled my love of wrestling. I am not sure I would be here if for that. Thanks Dad! Love the Rey/Malenko series and the GAB '96 match is match of the series. I love the ground vs air hook of the match. Chad hits the nail on the head with how styles make fight. Have not seen it in a while, but I have always loved it. It is right with the Psicosis Bash at the Beach match as the best crusierweight match of 1996. I think the ground work allowed Rey to get over via selling once you start pulling for him and then he wows you it makes it all the better. I do think this match could have used a longer/better shine segment.

I have a pair of blogs continuing my look at 2014 pro wrestling centering on All Japan's recent resurgence in high-end match quality and Kazuchika Okada's run in 2014. In the 2014 All Japan, you get a bonus review and thoughts on the career of the smoking hot and very talented Charli XCX before I dive into some roster analysis and finally match analysis. Main conclusions: Akiyama is still freakishly awesome at wrestling, was the best offensive wrestler in the world last year and as long as everything is run through him they be no worse than good. I think Miyahara is a really bright young prospect maybe the best in all of Japan, but Go Shiozaki leaves a lot to be desired. Match Lisitng: Jun Akiyama vs Takao Omori - AJPW 6/15/2014 Vacant Triple Crown Championship ***1/2 Kawada/Kojima II. Cant believe Akiyama choked. Akiyama offense great. Omori Jun Akiyama vs Kento Miyahara - AJPW 9/15/14 **** Superb finish. Great veteran vs rookie match. Too many momentum shifts Go Shiozaki vs Suwama - AJPW 9/15/14 Royal Road Tournament ****1/4 Best use of the sleeper. Suwama on point with cutoff and selling. Go Shiozaki needs to add emotion Wild Burning (Akiyama & Omori) vs. Xceed (Shiozaki & Miyahara) -AJPW 12/6/14 ****1/2 Akiyama/Miyahara story rules all. Feels like Jumbo/Misawa of this generation. Exciting AJPW Triple Crown Champion Joe Doering vs Go Shiozaki - AJPW 01/03/15 **** Doering's urgency engages while Shiozaki's disinterest hurts this. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/break-rules-jun-akiyama-go-shiozaki-all.html ------------------------------------------------------------- In It's Raining Dropkicks, Kazuchika Okada is bringing the dropkick back and really started to dig how he worked into matches like a more high-risk, but just as impactful version of the Misawa's elbow. I still think he needs to demonstrate that he is actually invested in the match outcome, but he is an enjoyable worker when he is making that connection and his actions seem urgent. He does have a tenedency to coast by on his natural athleticism and just let great workers be great around him rather than adding to the match. Match Listing: IWGP Champion Okada vs NEVER Champion Tetsuya Naito - NJPW 01/04/14 Tokyo Dome Boring. Dropkicks galore. Just does not seem to go anywhere. Avoid IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada vs IWGP Jr Hvywt Champion Kota Ibushi - NJPW 3/6/14 Ibushi the overachieving underdog up against the increasingly frustrated Okada. IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada vs AJ Styles - NJPW 5/3/14 Great AJ heel performance switching from outside interference to knee psychology. BULLET CLUB! IWGP Heavyweight Champion AJ Styles vs Kazuchika Okada - G-1 Climax Day 1 2014 AJ as a awesome trash talking heel. Does Okada have a counter for Styles Clash? Kazuchika Okada vs Minoru Suzuki - NJPW G-1 Climax 8/8/14 Minoru Suzuki rules the school, while Okada just doesn't meet him at that level. Kazuchika Okada vs Shinsuke Nakamura - NJPW G-1 Climax Finals 8/10/14 Okada's dropkicks & heart vs. Nakamura's counterwrestling & knees. Epic War! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/its-raining-dropkicks-kazuchika-okada.html

NXT Women's Champion Charlotte vs Sasha Banks -NXT Takeover REvolution 12/11/14 It was love at first sight for me and The Boss. I could just tell from her mannerisms that she would be a Sleeze Favorite, then she called Charlotte, "generically basic" and I knew she could do no wrong. However, this Lady (She ain't ratchet!) from Titletown, USA (Home of Winners such as the New England Patriots, John Cena, and Myself, the First Ever Winner of the First Ever Pro Wrestling Trivia Internet Podcast, Brainbuster), is no slouch in the ring and most importantly is not afraid to heel it up. Whether it was getting into Charlotte's face like who ya think ya are or taunting Charlotte with Woos making me laugh like heidy heidy ha, Sasha Banks was wrestling this match like a Flair. Hell, she even had the Flair transition of using the outside and corner to your advantage. Ric Flair is perhaps the greatest corner wrestler of the time. It was in the ropes that Flair was at his most dangerous because that is a break in the steady-sate action of wrestling and he was used these transients to get one-up on his opponents. Here, we see Sasha bait Charlotte to the outside, yank hair from the corner (never turned you back on an opponent, Charlotte, love how Sasha made her pay for the lapse in focus), or the the drop toehold in the corner. The announcers were on point noting these elements of Sasha's game plans, kudos. What they missed and this where Bobby Heenan really would have shined is that Sasha Banks was not just taunting Charlotte by using the chop and the figure-4 headlock, she taught Charlotte those moves! That was one of the cruxes of the video package. Heenan would have been right on top of that and BANG! We would have gotten the will you stop from Gorilla. One last thing, I dug from Banks early on, when Charlotte looked to regain the advantage, we saw Sasha tackle her into the corner and deliver double knees in the corner. it showed a desperation and violence mixed together. It was a wrestler that knew their grasp was tenuous at best. I liked Charlotte using her natural strength to overcome Sasha. Charlotte is an interesting case. I don't if she would be better suited as a heel or face. I liked her as a heel in the Bayley match a lot, but I feel like her natural gifts and moveset would make her a babyface. I think starting off as a heel and maturing into the face is always the safest route, but I could see her going either way. Towards the match got all move trade-y and athletic and stuff. I have seen it all folks, a strike exchange in a WWE-sponsored women's match. That damn fucking sequence is going to follow me to my grave. I thought I was safe, but they went and pulled it out. Admittedly, I liked Charlotte shortening the ring up on the tackle to end the exchange. Charlotte's moonsault into a somersault senton was very, very impressive. There were a couple other spots, but I was disappointed they abandoned a great narrative to hit MOVEZ~! Certain people would say that would be the most Flair thing to do. That being said it does play into the fact that in an athletic match Charlotte would smoke Sasha so once Charlotte could set her pace and implement her gameplan it was over for The Boss, but constant move trading took away from any sort of hot crescendo. Anyways, first half of this match Sasha Banks wrestled this match Like A Boss and the best pure heel performance in a WWE ring since Stephanie McMahon at Summerslam. The second half is not bad, but it is forgettable, but the story hook is eschewed for moves. ***1/2

Love the finish of that one so much. Hansen is enraged, Gordy is running interference desperately and Doc trying to kill Spivey while he still had a chance before Hansen got his hands on him. Dramatic and exciting finish!

Slacking again. I write these posts, but if no one reads them what is the point? Well I do play to that Audience of One! The winner of the first ever pro wrestling internet podcast trivia challenger, BRAINBUSTER!, presents the following two blogs: In Owner of the Biggest Heart, I like at Daniel Bryan's unfortunately abbreviated 2014 campaign and just how emotionally moving I found it. It is an incredible story of hope that is inspiring and it is tough to think of anything that emotionally moving as the moment of Bryan winning the title at Wrestlemania since Eddie won at No Way Out 2004. Match Listing: Daniel Bryan vs Bray Wyatt - Royal Rumble 2014 **** Great Bray Wyatt performance. Action-packed. Lacking interesting story or hook. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs John Cena vs Daniel Bryan vs Cesaro vs Sheamus vs Christian - WWE Elimination Chamber 2014 **** Great beginning and work by the mid-carders especially Christian. Finish stretch was pretty lame. Daniel Bryan vs Triple H w/Stephanie McMahon - Wrestlemania XXX ***** Ultimate feel-good story. Both of them made each other work for every inch. Flawless. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Randy Orton vs Batista vs Daniel Bryan Wrestlemania XXX **** The Happy Ending. Fun Attitude Era style brawl with great crazy hijinx. Awesome finish. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/01/owner-of-biggest-heart-daniel-bryan-wwe.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------- In Rabbit Fighter: A Look At The State of Japanese Junior Heavyweights in 2007, I begin with in depth review of my experience at Beyond Wrestling in Providence, RI featuring Chris Hero/JT Dunn against BIff Busick/Drew Gulak on top. Believe the hype! Biff Busick is the real deal! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! BIFF! Match Listing: GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champions Briscoes vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Ricky Marvin - NOAH 1/21/07 Worst Japanese match of the decade and one of the worst matches I have ever seen. All Japan Jr. Hvywt Champion Shuji Kondo vs Katsuhiko Nakajima - AJPW 2/17/07 ****1/2 #48 out of 100 - Must Watch Incredible strategical wrestling. Nakajima attacks arm, but injures his neck. Switches gears to use headshots to stay in the match. Kondo is the best junior powerhouse of the decade. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion Minoru Tanaka vs Ryusuke Taguchi - NJPW 07/06/07 ***1/4 Minoru Tanaka is a great arrogant heel. The Funky Weapon is pretty bland. They drop arm psychology. KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi - Budokan 7/15/07 **** #91 out of 100 Great juniors spotfest. Better than most Dragon Gate/Toryumon matches. Great eye-candy Bryan Danielson vs Go Shiozaki - ROH In Tokyo 7/16/07 ***1/2 Exhibition of what makes Danielson great offensively. Shiozaki is bland in this contest. Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - M-Pro 8/30/07 ***3/4 Sasuke wrestling at a high level, but Dragon is too spotty in this great junior bout. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2015/02/rabbit-fighter-shuji-kondo-katsuhiko.html