Superstar Sleeze

I have no idea how neoliberalism (I am a proud neoliberal) is being conflated with libertarianism. Neoliberalism believes in free market capitalism but also recognizes there are market failures. Market failures can take the form of, but are not limited to asymmetric information, moral hazard, and externalities. Neoliberal economists have every right to believe that free markets free of market failures are the most efficient. Free trade and de-regulation of electricity markets have shown that. However, in the case of market failures, neoliberal economists will cite the need for regulation. This is why neo-liberal economists will promote a carbon tax or a price floor for carbonaceous fuels because the negative externality of pollution is not captured in the price of burning carbon-based fuels. Furthermore, in response to the credit crunch of the late 2000s, regulation was passed to better regulate investment/commercial and the rating agencies (Moody's, Standard's & Poor's) which rate the assets. Libertarians, which tend to follow wacky Austrian School of Economics, believe in no regulation. Neocons believe in classical economics bullshit like the Laffer Curve. I love you all as pro wrestling fans, but jeez. Also I absolutely love that the fake Japanese guy on this board is championing the story of the fake Japanese wrestler as a tribute to Japan somehow being an open, tolerant culture. Give me a break, Rikidozan had to pretend to be Japanese because of how damn racist the Japanese were. It was the greatest work of all time, but lets not give Japan credit here for being an open, tolerant society when they were not. I am told things are better towards Koreans and Chinese now, but they were not then.

Re-reading my review, I agree a lot with what I said but I liked the match better this time having watched a lot more M-Pro. bWo Japan (Taka Michinoku, MENS Teioh, Dick Togo) vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Masato Yakushiji - ECW Barely Legal 1997 Very good touring match that I assumed help greatly in getting them a partnership with the WWF in the summer of 1997, which also ended up killing the promotion well that and Sasuke basically retiring. Sasuke has not looked his best in these American outings. He was willing to take a beating, but something felt off. He was not being his daredevil self. I thought Gran Hamada was good. There are times when he can be a mini-Tenryu and be all ornery and pissed off and other times he fades into the background, more of the latter here. The young Yakushiji actually carried the babyface side he was both the best face in peril and the best flier in the match. The crowd really popped for his highspots especially his great armdrags. Kaientai is badass as always. Taka Michinoku has so much charisma. Flipping off the crowd was great. bWo Japan just made so much sense I am glad they did it. So many good Kaientai double & triple teams and the ECW faithful was popping for all of them. The Mutants could be sick fucks, but they were mostly respectful of international styles so kudos to them. The classic Kaientai poses were great. Shieldbomb on Yakushiji. I really like this idea of the Shield watching old Kaientai matches and aspiring to be like them. They fuck up Shieldbomb with Sasuke. Sasuke hits his classic Asai Moonsault. Taka gets his CRAZY springboard splash. The finish stretch is good. Nothing too big until then end when Taka hits a springboard dropkick that even Ohtani would be jealous of on Sasuke and nails a Michinku Driver. 1-2-NO! Now we run through Sasuke's stuff, quebrada, HUGE Crucifix Powerbomb and finally Tiger Suplex. Lets be honest it was a total spotfest, it lacked a lot of structure that the other M-Pro matches had, but they were trying to get over with a new crowd and they did so by throwing out a ton of spots and they were great. Even it is not the best of M-Pro, you can appreciate by watching other M-Pro. ***1/2

Sub in Jeff Hardy for Orton & im there

I will happily eat crow. Tonight was a helluva Smackdown. We got three Smackdowns last year in New England, this one destroyed those by a country mile. Amazing show! Smackdown is so loaded. Watching the GOATs team up live was incredible. Seeing AJ wrestle live is always a treat but my God a Daniel Bryan hot tag! Samoa Joe is such a great promo, Benjamin vs Jeff Hardy was better than it should be. Did "This is Awful" chants during the Charlotte make TV? They finally found a worse chant than "This is awesome". Charlottes chops have improved leaps & bounds. Great heeling from Peyton. They could have not gone back to the armbar so much. It was a mediocre match calling it awful is a gross overstatement.

The Riott Squad was terrible. Looked like low-rent Mickey Mouse jobbers.

Been saying that since last Mania! Hope we get one

They moved NINETEEN wrestlers to RAW?!? What the fuck is the point? I somehow get stuck going to these awful shows all the time. I went to first Samckdown Live in Worcester where they had the draft in 2016. Then went to the Smackdown portion of last year's draft in Boston. Now going to Smackdown in Providence. These shows are so lame to attend live.

Great Sasuke vs Taka Michinoku - RAW 7/7/97 The PPV match is paced way better than this. If they landed all their highspots clean maybe this would contend but lots of misses. Sasuke's swandive looked great. Taka nearly kills himself on his flip springboard top rope moonsault. He does a top rope Asai Moonsault but in a rare WWF camera fuck up we miss it. Brian Christopher is on commentary and is insufferable with his Jimmy Hart laughing and terrible racist humor. Sasuke busts on the Flying Space Tiger Drop, but it is not his best. I liked that Taka went for the moonsault after the Michinoku Driver because it didn't kill off the move like at the PPV. Sasuke hits a monster Crucifix Powerbomb to win. It seems like Sasuke got the message that stiffness gets pops. Watch the PPV match too many misfires here.

Great Sasuke vs Taka Michinoku - WWF Canadian Stampede 1997 After a year, the WWF finally tries to respond to WCW's Cruiserweight division by striking up a partnership with Michinoku Pro. Great Sasuke as the founder/owner/biggest star of M-Pro he is a no brainer. I think Taka is the best of the M-Pro talent to bring over with him charisma, breath-taking highspots and good psychology. This a showcase/touring match like you would see out of Rey vs Psicosis. I enjoyed this one a lot and they won over a dead Calgary crowd. I will say at least Calgary was open to liking the match. They popped for the stiff spots. Sasuke NAILED Taka twice with two wicked kicks. Taka got Sasuke good with an open hand slap. Sasuke busted out his missile dropkick to the floor and Asai Moonsault while Taka had an insane running, top rope, springboard cross body. Wicked air. Michinoku Driver got a good reaction and Lawler marked out. Should have been the finish. Sasuke hit his usual finish sequence: quebrada, Crucifix Powerbomb and adds a Tiger Suplex. WWF was led to believe Sasuke was the star but it was clear Taka Michinoku had the charisma. He had a great smile that can be heart-warming and dickish. I enjoyed this a lot even if it was a no-selling, spotfest. ***1/2

I am surprised you guys didn't like this more. I have this as the best of the ones that are not the big three. Kaientai (Dick Togo, MENS Teioh, Shiryu) vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada, Super Delfin - Michinoku Pro 11/12/96 The World Famous Sportatorium is rocking for another rendition of Freebirds vs Von Erichs excuse me sorry, it is Michinoku Pro and this crowd is on fire for Kaientai vs The All Star Team of Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada & Super Delfin. Before the match, Hamada is honored. Ditch does not know why. I don't know why. This Japanese is absolutely electric. It reminds me of Freebirds vs Von Erichs. They actually BOO Kaientai. It is crazy. Any time someone takes a head shot at Sasuke they boo. Huge cheers for all three babyfaces as they are super over. Delfin is great at playing to the crowd. Lots of charisma. Hamada is in total asskicking mode, lots of hard chops and lariats. Sasuke is Sasuke, a sloppy nut. Kaientai is on point. Big FIP on Delfin working over his midsection after a MENs Teioh double stomp and gutbuster. Delfin makes it to the corner. They end up kicking Sasuke in the head. Crowd boos and Sasuke goes down in a heap. Just classic Kaientai here. All over Sasuke. Spike Piledriver was great. Shieldbomb from the top! They Shieldbomb Gran Hamada when he saves. Delphin makes a HOT AND I MEAN DOUBLE HOT TAG! Delphin was on fire here. Super over. He gets knocked out after trying for his special pin combo. Gran Hamada is on fire next. Sasuke helps out a little by crotching Togo on the top rope and hitting an Asai Moonsault on Shiryu to a huge pop. Gran Hamada's Tornado DDT and Top Rope Frankensteiner are super over! Hamada gets a huge pop for the rana out of the pop-up powerbomb. Sasuke & Delphin hit double missile dropkicks on Shiryu. Delphin wipes out Teioh, Hamada takes out Togo with a tornado DDT. Sasuke is left alone with Shiryu. Ballgame! Sasuke quebrada and then Crucifix Powerbomb 1-2-3 to a MASSIVE POP! I am a sucker for really over babyfaces with badass offense. The crowd ate this up with a spoon. The babyfaces delivered in spades with big offense down the stretch. Kaientai are just superb heels. The first 2/3rds of the match is all about making you want to see Kaientai get their asses beat. Sasuke's head injury got big time heat and he had some really great verbal selling. Delphin, Hamada and Sasuke all shined big time down the stretch. Awesome match! ****1/4

Kaientai (Dick Togo, Mens Teioh, Shiryu) vs Great Sasuke, Gran Hamada & Masato Yakaushiji - Michinoku Pro 10/19/96 A week after their big These Days show, the M-Pro boys are back in Northeast Japan in a small gymnasium tearing it up like only they do. I have never heard of Yakaushiji he is a young, skinny dude dressed up like the Red Power Ranger. This is original Kaientai. Very solid M-Pro match as I am beginning to learn the trademarks of the style and I finally think I am ready to watch the These Days match. I liked Kaientai coming in and triple teaming early and then all flexing. Good crowd brawling. From the handicap match against Sasuke & Delphin, it seems Kaientai was into eliminating Sasuke and letting his partners fend for themselves. Here Dick Togo throws Sasuke through a door and Sasuke never really recovers. Yakaushiji is a total tackling dummy but he has his moments. Hamada gets spike piledrivered trying to save him. Sasuke tries his best but is never really able to sustain offense. I really liked the second heat segment on the Red Power Ranger. They do some false tags. The Kaientai Pose. Some great offense. I am annoyed that Hamada just came into the match and took over. I know it is Lucha rules, but Yakaushiji never left the ring. Again Sasuke looks to build momentum but gets cut off. Sasuke & Dick Togo do the worst monkey flip known to man in this match. I don't know who is more at fault. Men's Teioh is a damn good wrestler. Good heel and great execution. Dick Togo throws a great German on the Red Power Ranger, who is a great tackling dummy. Red Power Ranger gets a suicide dive and Sasuke gets his swanton bomb to the outside. Hamada gets a top rope Frankensteiner inside but Mens Teioh saves. Teioh drops Sasuke on his injured head a couple times to good heat. Sasuke armdrags out of a chokeslam and quebrada gets two. Crucifix powerbomb! 1-2-no! Shiryu saves. Shiryu gets his Fisherman Buster. Mens Teioh punches Shiryu and Sasuke hits a back handspring elbow. YAKAUSHIJI HITS A MISSILE DROPKICK! TOP ROPE HURRICANARANA! CAN THE KID DO IT? 1-2-NO! Pop-up Powerbomb. The Kid is dead. LOOK OUT BELOW! SENTON! 1-2-3! Kaientia wins again! Really liked the ending with Yakaushiji & Dick Togo. The rest there were moment of greatness but they did not connect them, still an entertaining match. ***1/4

J-Crown Champion The Great Sasuke vs Ultimo Dragon - WAR 10/11/96 The rematch from the J-Crown Tournament finale where Sasuke cracked open his skull literally. I always think because of the injury Sasuke loses that match, but nope he is the inaugural J-Crown champion. I liked this better than their first match. The opening chain wrestling is so 90s, but so good. I think growing up in the 90s there is a certain comfort to watching this style of ground work focused on single leg pick-ups and fancy reversals. They do the 'ol Ultimo Dragon headstand in the corner and a great tumbling sequence where both miss spinwheel kicks. These are two of the best at 90s workrate, so fluid. Dragon focuses on the arm. Short arm scissors! Love it! Sasuke powders. Dragon does a quebrada just to show off. That's great! Sasuke goes for the leg and gets a deep single leg crab. Dragon makes the ropes and says play time is over. Drop Sasuke on his injured head with a brainbuster and then with a DDT! Crowd is pissed. Crowd is wicked pro-Sasuke probably due to him making his return. Dragon goes for another brainbuster and Sasuke gets an armbar takedown. After this the match gets a little spotty. Dragon does his usual ropes routine. Sasuke dropkicks him into the post. Sasuke hits a missile dropkick, which I guess is safer than the dive he did where he fractured his skull. Quebrada for Sasuke gets two. Dragon hits a dropkick as Sasuke comes off the top. Top Rope Frankensteiner & Running Ligerbomb win it for Dragon. Did not overstay its welcome. I thought Sasuke could have gotten a bigger nearfall to really put it over. The beginning was excellent and the flying was damn good too. ***3/4

I have begun watching Michinoku Pro from the 90s which is a blind spot for me. I know the general players, Great Sasuke, Super Delfin, Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, but I still have no clue about the storylines. What I am most interested in is how Super Delphin turned babyface and linked up with Great Sasuke against the evil Kaientai? How did Kaientai form? How did Taka Michinoku & Sho Funaki join to create Kaientai DX? Basically any key angles or storyline developments from the beginning of the promotion in 1993 to Super Delphin & Co. leaving in 1999 would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Surprised this did not make the set. Kaientai (Dick Togo, MENS Teioh, Shiryu) vs Great Sasuke & Super Delphin - Michinoku Pro 6/23/96 Somehow Super Delphin has turned babyface and created a super team with the ace, Great Sasuke. Together they are taking out the hot heel act of Kaientai. This is original Kaientai of Dick Togo (formerly SATO), MENS Teioh (formerly Terry Boy) & Shiryu (Kaz Hayashi in a mask). Taka Michinoku & Sho Funaki have not yet joined. Kaientai tries to jump them early, but Sasuke & Delphin fight back. Sasuke gets a quebrada wiping out two members of Kaientai. Sasuke & Delphin isolate Shiryu and go to town of him with a barrage of suplexes and aerial offense. Kaientai eventually use the numbers game to overwhelm their two opponents. They really work over Sasuke with some great triple teams. Lots of crowd brawling. Sasuke takes some wicked chair shots. They just start dropping on Sasuke from the top rope. Sasuke being Sasuke his hope spots involving a lot of no selling, but they are fun. Sasuke hits a somersault off the apron on Togo. Here comes Delphin now! Sasuke & Delphin are rolling. Missile dropkick from Sasuke. Crucifix Powerbomb. Sasuke & Delphin have Teioh & Shiryu in a pinning predicament, but Dick Togo is still loose and breaks it all up. Dick Togo misses a big senton. He bounces off the mat. Delphin & Sasuke dive train ensues. Delphin is holding Togo as Sasuke ascends the top to finish him off, MENS Teioh throws a chair at him knocking him off the top. Togo ballshots Delphin. This is when the match goes from a good M-Pro match to a great M-Pro match. We get a split screen of Dick Togo ripping Delphin's mask and Teioh throwing Sasuke off the stage knee-first through a table. WOW! Now that's a heel beatdown. They give Delphin a little bit of hope with a rana out of the Shield Bomb. Before Kaientai hits the Shield Bomb and then each hits a dive on Delphin from the top rope finishing with Dick Togo's awesome Senton to win the match definitively. Eerily reminiscent of the Shield matches with lots of chaotic brawling, the heel team isolating one opponent by demolishing his partner (in this case Sasuke's knee through the table) then followed by a three-on-one mugging of the last opponent complete with a Shield-Bomb. Enjoyed the match a lot, the finish really puts it over the top. Kaientai is a force to be reckoned with! ****

Jushin Thunder Liger, Gran Hamada & Gran Naniwa vs Kaientai DX (Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Sho Funaki) - Michinoku Pro 8/16/96 I need to read more about Michinoku Pro's history, but it looks like Kaientai is officially in full swing now. Liger was tremendous in this! Charisma was just oozing out. This was right before his surgery to have his brain tumor removed. He did not look like a guy who was staring a major surgery in the face. He was loose as a goose. Having tons of fun: Hulk Hogan ear cup, Hogan posedown, Mr. Wrestling II booty shaking! He had it all! He was having a ball out there. Taka Michinoku is awesome. It is too bad he went to the WWF and then never recovered. He is special. Not just as an aerial artist, I love the he bows up to Naniwa and puffs out his chest. He hits hard and is good on the mat. It is interesting how pretty much everyone does dives now, but still few are as pretty and visually stunning as Taka's Springboard, Top Rope, Flip Asai Moonsault. Absolutely breath-taking. This is how a spotfest should be. Just tons of fun and with big, big spots. I liked the shine a lot. My favorite sequence was Kaientai does a sequence of charges into Hamada in the corner. Then babyfaces respond by doing the same thing to Taka Michinoku in their corner. I would have liked a ballshot there. Also, I liked how Kaientai had to use the numbers game to get one up on Liger or Hamada to get heat. Big Dive train that's where the aforementioned Taka Springboard Top Rope Asai Moonsault takes place. Dick Togo hits a powerbomb then a Senton on Liger for two! Naniwa breaks it up. Unfortunately, Naniwa vs Taka Michinoku is sloppy down the stretch. Naniwa pinning Michinoku with a Michinoku Driver then Blue Thunder Bomb did not feel that climatic. Disappointing finish aside this was super fun. ***1/2

Great Sasuke, Tiger Mask IV & Shiryu vs Super Delphin, Taka Michinoku, Gran Naniwa - M-Pro 3/16/96 I have seen a couple M-Pro here and there but this is my first time in the past five years really sitting down & watching it. This seems like a good introductory match to the style & the key players. I thought Tiger Mask IV & Taka Michinoku looked the best out of the bunch. Great execution, good spots and great pacing, Tiger Mask IV is a good Sayama tribute and I like Sayama more than most. There were some great legsweeps from TM IV and he was positioned very strongly in this match. He cleared the ring the first times in there and hit a dive on Taka. I thought Taka had great zip on all his offense. I can see why the WWF wanted to make him their Rey Mysterio. I was surprised Sasuke took as much of a beating as he did. He did not "win" any of his segments. I always forget Delphin is a heel. He is so colorful. A great heel. He cheats. Good stooging especially off the atomic drop. I liked that sequence where he didn't do a dive because Taka was in the way. Very cheeky. M-Pro reminds me a lot of today's wrestling not much struggle and very exhibition-y but they make for it being cheeky, entertaining and having a touch of personality. Shiryu had some good dives but didn't much else. He ballshotted Naniwa which confused me until I read this was foreshadowing. Naniwa was cute not much else. I liked Sasuke's drop kick nailing Taka out of the sky. I really liked the heels had to double team TM IV to get him into the heat segment. TM IV was the offensive star of the faces so I liked it took two men to get the advantage on him. The classic M-Produce train was awesome. The Taka/TM IV segment at the end was awesome! Taka drop kicks Sasuke out. TM IV nails him with a kick wants the Tiger Suplex can't get it. TOMBSTONE/HEADBUTT combo! 1-2-No! TM up top Taka launches a ground to air missile drop kick that takes TM out of the sky. MICHINOKU DRIVER! 1-2-No! Shiryu saves. Taka hits his INSANE springboard top rope Asai Moonsault. Incredible sequence. I thought Delphin/Shiryu nearfall sequence at the end was too much and didn't have much struggle. The ending is pretty remarkable. Sasuke hits a Crucifix Powerbomb on Taka. Sasuke & Shiryu do two incredible dives. TM IV polishes Taka off with a Tiger Suplex. I came away wanting to see Taka Michinoku vs Tiger Mask IV in a singles match. I feel like they have classic them. I thought they were the all stars of this match and the match was clearly built around them. They hit it out of the park. I'm surprised how much of an ass kicking Sasuke took. The style overall is very fun. It is clearly influential on today's style but this had more character work and a lot more fun moments to it. Looking forward to more matches, Tiger Mask IV & Taka killed it! ****

Yuki Ishikawa vs Daisuke Ikeda - BattlArts 4/15/97 Clearly Stephanie watched a lot of Ishikawa vs Ikeda to learn her cross arm breaker defense. We don't talk about defense enough in pro wrestling. More often than not it is because pro wrestlers don't care about defense. Offense, selling, bumps & highspots are the band of the game and high level pro wrestlers understand transitions. But very few think in terms of defense. These two are superb defensive wrestlers & they put on a defense clinic. Just in case, you are new to the game Ikeda is the stand up striker & Ishikawa is the wrestler in this Tom & Jerry feud of pro wrestling. That is not to take away the capabilities of the other in other's domain. Ikeda applied many submissions and Ishikawa rocked Ikeda with some wicked palm strikes and punches. What makes this great is not how well-rounded in offense these two are but how good they are at defending. Ishikawa was taking Ikeda down at will but once on the mat he couldn't put Ikeda away. In fact many times Ikeda ended up in dominant position. I would say the first half Ikeda held the lead. He was landing the bigger blows. Getting a standing 8 count. Big open hand slaps and some wicked kicks. The roundhouse to throats was nasty. Ishikawa had some good throws back duplex & belly to belly suplex but on the mat he couldn't put Ikeda away. I thought Ikeda was setting up his submissions better by using strikes. In the middle of the match it looked like Ikeda had it with multiple submissions especially a single leg crab. But Ishikawa is a great defensive wrestler in his own right. He navigated out of the submissions but the key was his stand up defense. He was able to catch the big kicks and turn them into legbars. Deeper into the match the more lasting benefit this had. He had a great figure-4 but Ikeda made the ropes he transitioned into a headlock. Ikeda ended up on top it really goes to show you how good Ikeda is at defensive ground wrestling. I think it was Ishikawa that punched Ikeda in the face on the ground with a stiff right to set up a cross arm-breaker. That's what he needed more set up. I loved Ishikawa head butting Ikeda in the back to set up the German. I thought they picked up the urgency in the last five minutes. Ishikawa came flying in with a knee to the head. Ikeda was throwing huge strikes. Big time submissions in the ropes not letting go. Ikeda has a double wrist lock applied as time expires. I like Ikeda on top as rge match went to a draw because if I was scoring on points he won the match. Ishikawa came on really strong at the end but Ikeda mixed in big strikes and submission defense to put together a complete performance. He was letting Ishikawa take him down because he knew he could survive. Ishikawa needed to set up via submissions better as he was relying on his superior takedown ability. Ishikawa can really take a lick and also got better at defending the strikes of Ikeda. It was fitting that such an even, defensive struggle ended in a draw. ****1/2

As soon as I found out on Twitter, this match was happening, I immediately sat down and watched Smackdown live, which I never do. So that shows you how much of a draw this was. Great chain wrestling early and I loved Daniel Bryan's Dean Malenko-esque escape to injure the arm of Styles. Everything was snug good Euro Uppercut by Daniel Bryan, good dropkick by AJ. AJ gets the forearm plancha to the floor. AJ ends up targeting the leg. I thought they did a great job with dueling limb psychology without going to overboard. AJ was targeting the leg after Daniel jammed it and going for his Calf-Slicer. It was Daniel attacking the arm with armbreakers and the YesLock, AJ must have been watching a lot of Stephanie based on how well he blocked that cross-armbreaker. Daniel Bryan was still flying around and having AJ shift his weight and land on Bryan's head on a super back suplex was stupid. Nakamura interfering was the right call. I way more excited for a Nakamura heel run than a face run. Terrific TV wrestling. ***3/4

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar vs Roman Reigns - WrestleMania XXXI "Think shoot, but work" - "Stone Cold" Steve Austin I have not spoken about that mantra much, but the first minute of this WAR epitomizes the essence of great pro wrestling: "Think shoot, but work." How many pro wrestling matches have we seen Brock Lesnar start by bullrushing his opponent, double legging him and then driving him hard into the corner. Roman looks to head him off at the pass. This looked like two rams colliding and locked in a heated clash for supremacy. It was chaotic. It was organic. It had me three years later pumping my fist. The way Brock ended up manhandling Roman in the corner was great. Brock comes out with a mouse under his eye that gets worse & worse as the match progressing and blood dribbling down from his cheek. Brock phases Roman and then chucks him out of the corner. F-5!!!! BOOM! Playing right off the Cena Summerslam 2014 match. The key to Lesnar's lopsided defeat of Cena was that early F-5. Cena had some hope spots but he never recovered and Brock ran away with it in a squash. Here it was the same thing. I will say Brock looked in phenomenal shape in this match. His throws looked amazing. There was great variety like the Fisherman Suplex throw and the overhead Belly to Belly from the apron to the ring. Just insane strength. He commanded that ring. I thought Roman's hope spots were incredible. Everything had zip on it. The back elbow and then those two HUGE punches to the mouse under Brock's eye. Brock had some great strikes as well some really great kneelifts. My favorite spot of the match which is the spot I remember the most from this match is when Roman catches Brock charging with a knee. Then Roman CRACKS Brock in the mouth hard with a knee drawing blood from Lesnar's mouth. This just serves to piss The Beast off. Brock catches Roman's leg on the apron and proceeds to OBLITERATE Roman with a lariat that would make Stan Hansen proud. I mean HOLY SHIT! What a LARIAT! He smoked Roman! What I love about this is that was a major turning point. There were no more hope spots after that. It was just pure decimation. I am going to bring my complaint now. So Brock having conquered Roman looks to put him away with the F-5 and Roman kicks out and defiantly smiles & laughs. There were a couple times before this where Roman was using the sarcastic smile/laugh to put over his defiance/resilience. I just don't like this as an artistic choice. I think it undercuts the match. If you are going to do defiance, do it like Hashimoto, BOW UP & BELLOW! I thought the transition to Roman's comeback was pitch perfect. Roman was too deep in a hole. He needed some luck, something extra. It came in form of a shove into the post. Brock gets lacerated. Brock is just a mess, bleeding from the mouse under the eye, from the mouth and now from the forehead. I have said it before and I will say it again and I will let ring from the mountaintops, Brock Lesnar is the BEST SELLER in the WWE right now. That's where he makes his money. The way he sells the Superman Punches are amazing. He sells discombobulation so well. The way he flays. It generates so much excitement. You cant help but get on your feet, pump your fist because it feels like something crazy is about to happen. The Spears & Superman Punches were great. Catching Roman in the Superman Punch & the DEFIANT F-5 COMPLETE WITH BEAST ROAR WAS INCREDIBLE!!!! BROCK LESNAR IS ALL MAN! At this point, Seth Rollins cashes-in Money In The Bank. I liked the finish a lot with Brock catching Rollins in the F-5, Reigns Spearing Brock while he had Rollins on his shoulders and then Rollins hitting the Curb Stomp on Reigns to win. I like the finish in the sense that if you are going to do the Money In The Bank Cash-in this was the best possible finish, but I would have much rather seen Brock vs Roman get a proper finish because it was an amazing, ultra-violent bout. The Rollins stuff & the Roman laughing brings this down a smidge, but this is an awesome match. It is the Cena Summerslam 2014 match with the violence turned to 11. These two beat the holy hell out of each other. Watching it back I didn't think the heat segment went too long which was my complaint when I watched it live. I thought the hope spots from Roman were great and well-timed. I thought Lariat on the Apron was a great turning point to Brock's Finish run and the Post shot was a great transition to Roman's finish run. From the post-shot to the F-5 of Defiance is some of the best pro wrestling ever. Brock Lesnar is The Man! ****1/2

"Boss Loss" made reading this thread worth it. "Tommy Wiseau of PWO" is a close second. Shodate keep on keeping on brutha.

I have lived a crazy life and one of the weird fun facts of my life is that I as in attendance for Hulk Hogan's last ever match in WWE (Summerslam 2006). The year 2006 was the year WWE officially made nostalgia their business model. Hulk Hogan was just one example, the main storylines revolved around Mick Foley, the reunion of D-Generation X and resurrection of ECW. I think ever since 2006 WWE has had one foot in the past and one foot in the present. Check out this year in review of WWE in 2006. http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/03/wwe-in-2006.html?m=1

The Brainbuster vs The Young Stallions - MLG 12/6/88 This made the original DVDVR WWF Set and it is a pretty nifty little tag match up in Toronto. This is right after the Buster debuted in WWF and right before their program with The Rockers. Just classic Arn & Tully wrestling here. The babyface shine is so Southern. So much stooging so much bumping and so much feel good wrestling. This must be where Paul Roma caught Arn's eye. What makes the Tully & Arn team work so well is their characters. Tully is that firebrand. He may be getting his ass kicked must once Arn gets one up on their opponents. He is spitting and looking to get under everyone's skin: opponents, announcers and the fans. Arn is the muscle looking to bail Tully when his mouth is cashing checks that his ass cant. Tully was about to take a Headscissors when Arn comes in and blasts Roma. Roma has one more chance, but SPINEBUSTER cements the advantage for the Brainbusters. Then it is classic Busters wrestling positioning the ref & Jimmy Powers to best take advantage of 2 on 1 opportunities on Roma. They are great at always double teaming, but notice when it comes down to one on one that's when Roma gets his hope spot. The heels need that 2 on 1 advantage. Sound babyface/heel psychology. Tully goes for the slingshot suplex but Roma blocks twice by instepping his leg and ultimately sends Blanchard up in the air for a suplex. Jimmy Powers has a pretty routine hot tag. Blanchard gets a sunset flip from the top and Arn blasts Roma with a clothesline and Blanchard picks up the win to a big chorus of boos. Powers was pretty useless, but Roma was a solid white meat babyface that type that two pros from Carolina know exactly how to maximize his potential. Anderson & Blanchard put on a clinic here. ***1/4

Rick Rude vs Jake Roberts - MSG 10/24/88 For such a famous angle (Rude hitting on Cheryl Roberts), the follow up matches are never talked about. Why is it that they did not wrestle at Summerslam 88? Why did they only have one match at MSG? The feud seemed to be used to draw in LA which WWF was running a lot in the summer of 88. I thought this was a good match. The pre match stipulation stated the first person to hit their finish (DDT vs Rude Awakening) would win. Rude did some good stooging early on in the wristlock. High stepping, going over the top rope just to be dragged in. I liked the tease of the DDT early. I thought the transition to heat was weak. It was an eyerake then an atomic drop then a post shot. Roberts threw some wild punches Rude knocked him down. Rude goes for the Rude Awakening, but Jake bites the hand! Good transition back to Jake for his comeback. Roberts made his comeback with some good kneelifts. They did some good ribald humor by showing Rude's ass, which got a big pop. Roberts misses a kneelift hard. Instead of trying to win, Rude taunts Cheryl Roberts, she goes for the slap, but he catches her. BANG! DDT! It was a little too sudden so the pop was not massive. Jake goes for the pin 1-2-3 for the emphatic victory and gets more of a pop. I don't know if the pinfall was ad-libbed to give this a bit more finality or if Roberts forgot, but I liked it better than the match just ending with the DDT. Cheryl gets her licks in and they throw Damien on him. The finisher psychology was solid and they mixed in Cheryl well at the end. It was just nothing special just a very solid match. It is not surprising then that this feud is not fondly remembered besides the great angle at the beginning of the feud. ***

Rick Rude vs Koko B Ware - Primetime Wrestling 4/11/88 Sometimes it is just refreshing to watch really basic pro wrestling. Shine->heat and just watch a couple pros go at it no bells no whistles. Rude has not been pushed just yet. He is wearing bright tights with ugly gray boots. He looks like he has star potential, but is not totally there. Within the month, they would begin the Rude Awakening Kiss Segments leading to the big Cheryl Roberts angle and his airbrushed tights. Koko is such a great babyface. Rude is caught posing one too many times and Koko starts headbutting him and some good jabs. Great Memphis babyface that Koko B Ware. Rude was just a great body that posed a lot and talked a good game. Koko misses a charge in the corner. The heat segment is basic but good selling from Koko. I liked the cutoffs from Rude but too reliant on the chinlock. This was during The Brain's obsession with kidnapping animals, Bulldogs chase him off before he can kidnap Frankie. Rude runs to the back to help Heenan. Koko wins by countout. Perfectly acceptable pro wrestling.

1981! Bob Backlund vs Sgt Slaughter in a Cage! The belt is held up against Greg The Hammer Valentine will he win it back and stinkin up the joint against Don Muraco. And of course THE ALLEY FIGHT! http://ridingspacemountain.blogspot.com/2018/03/alley-fight-wwf-in-1981-bob-backlund.html?m=1