dawho5

I...uh...honestly wish I had typed up something similar with maybe different names to what Jetlag said. Pretty much summed up my thoughts about modern wrestling in a 100% accurate manner.

Benoit and Dundee would have been great. I liked the tag gauntlet a lot, but the idea of a Flair/Gilbert alliance makes me forget all the rest. Great first show.

My mind doesn't wander here unless I'm doing something particularly mindless at work. When I'm at home I will have stuff hit me that I should do and then I have to write it down in my booking documents lol. Which usually leads to more stuff and more writing down and about an hour gone for a stray thought.

I really liked Robinson's neutralizing of Abby's strikes early, only for Abby to hit him by surprise from the wrong side of a rope break. Abby looks to capitalize, but gets way more back than he bargained for when Robinson gets mad. That leads to the end of fall 1 and it's very good. Fall 2 Robinson busts Abby open and is ruthless on the cut. Wouldn't you be if you were up against a guy with 'the Butcher" in his name? I think this highlights one thing about Abby that most people don't mention often and that's his selling. The man is absolutely great at it when he wants to be. Robinson gets hung up in the ropes and Abby is clearly trying to not hurt the knee and his strikes look a little light, but I actually respect that. A man could get seriously fucked up and out of wrestling on a mistake there. Robinson gets counted out to even things up. Third fall Robinson is both selling his leg like a champ and continuing his beating on Abby's head. Abby keeps going to the leg to survive and finally Robinson is unable to stand up on his own and the match is called. One nice touch was Abby using the belt to tease Robinson as if he were playing with a dog post-match and the look on his face right before and during. Great heel move. Really great match with Robinson playing to Abdullah's strengths in a way I've not seen many wrestlers do.

Rose & Somers are one of the highlights of late period AWA, so it's awesome to see them here. I actually imagine that Gagne would get his share of offense on Simmons due to...uh....he's...the boss's son? Scorpio over Sullivan again, Sullivan has got to be getting pissed.

Damn you for putting the idea of Arn vs. Porky in my head! Now I'll wish there was a match pretty much until I stop watching wrestling. Really fun comedy match with the appropriate amount of bruising offense from MS1 and the rudos. I noticed a couple of off moments in the corner spot, but I forgave them as it seemed like there wasn't enough serious stuff going on to make this really need a lot of analysis. I did like the triple teaming of Super Porky in the first caida a lot.

It makes a lot of sense to try it due to yeah, you being the only major show in town. You're probably right in your reasoning that the competition between AJPW and NJPW had a lot to do with it. Neither Baba nor Inoki wanted to lose the TV network support because they were trying anything they didn't need. This makes me think of something Dylan brought up involving pro wrestling being an American export to Japan. It looks to me like it was brought over almost 100% intact and the changes happened due to pressure of competition forcing the promoter's hand based on how you put it. And if you really look at things carefully, what happened when national cable got ahold of the WWF and WCW? Or even ESPN with AWA or the Texas branch of USWA. So in a way that change truly predicted the change in American wrestling. Not the first time Japan was a few years ahead of America on changes to wrestling either.

On rewatch, I dug Kawada setting the tone early and Kobashi coming right along for the ride. Kwada was all kinds of surly here and that's always the best Kawada. Do you think Kawada and Kobashi ever got tired of working the leg each match they had? I really liked how Kobashi and Kikuchi would use teamwork to the maximum when they got the chance. Good way to show they are trying to find ways to equalize things. Kobashi and Kikuchi get the crowd rocking during their nearfalls everyone will go nowhere. You know how I know it's a great match? That last part about the crowd, that's how. Awesome stuff.

Good history lesson! I knew about the Abby/Sheik stuff, but did not realize that Tiger Jeet Singh was such a big deal. Had all but forgotten the Dump/Chiggy bloodbaths.

I love the use of the Southern Title as a kind of LHW championship with Mando facing the more agile guys. Huge card in Bloomington.

Great card top to bottom. The Vader match and the main really stood out for me.

A few great title matches on both cards with very 80s finishes. Slater appears to have chosen a side. Hall with a big win. Armstrongs and Long Riders would have been real good.

Tony does indeed kill it here. Where did this Tony go??? Paul did well with the promo but I thought Rude killed it. Looking forward to more from Rude for sure.

Not an actively bad finishing stretch, but we all knew going in Luger was winning.

WCW comes up with a lot of cool ideas. Then it tries to execute them and I cry a little on the inside usually.

Stinger has been showing aspects of his character lately that reveal why he is so popular with children. I propose that his character is meant to be a 12 year old boy in a man's body.

They did this phone bit twice?? Could they not think of better ways to do this?

This angle confirms for me that Sting is indeed a 12 year old boy in the body of a grown man. Madusa was pretty hot though, so I guess.

This is an amazing match. And reveal. And that's really all I can add. I guess I can be happy that it got the reaction it did after the bulk of 1991 as well.

I don't jump on this part of things often but I wanted to say how much I love how the project is going. We have some diverse, but very good writing styles going on and I wanted to take the time to show my appreciation for the writers. In no particular order. LowBlow I love your combination of realism with the TV setup and announcers with a much better card layout featuring marquee matchups that just didn't happen. And like you said in another thread, you prefer to take established guys and work with them. Seems like more realism for a guy running "the big leagues". I always like the little asides you put in here and there that give hints as to what is coming later too. Your SNME write-ups really are a highlight with the openings being really spot-on. Also like how you write Hogan so accurately despite not caring for him too much. The challengers you put in front of him are way more entertaining than IRL for my money. SirEdger You really make Lutte into something close to what it was. I have seen a very small amount and appreciate the level of detail you go into on that front. Your angles always really come off well too. You keep things really concise, but still capture the direction things are going very well. I envy that a lot. The sheer variety of your match-ups really keeps things fresh. I like the amount of NWA integration you use and I think you are the guy who brought this to the forefront honestly. Martel's list of challengers has been impressive and varied, which I like a lot. rainmakerr The way you develop your younger wrestlers is really, really good. I also like that you try to find bits and pieces from all over to have a mix of everything on the card in addition to all the rookies and the big midwest names. I really like how you plant seeds with your shows, leaving little breadcrumb trails to follow for the non-casual fan. Your setup is really good with guys like Bock, Orndorff and Zbysko bringing the fans in and the young guys working veterans to learn. Another real big plus is you would have a lot of fans learning about British wrestling and lucha due to the names in their own backyard. GeneJackson You get so much out of your TV. And your shows. Everything has this great sense of "it really comes from WCCW" to it. I'm pretty sure Embry is one of the most popular wrestlers in the project due mostly to you. I love how all the different storylines mix and match when they need to as well. Nobody is immune from being involved in somebody else's shit. One thing I always liked about WCCW is the idea that the Freebirds were heels against a lot of people, but against Akbar they were 100% babyfaces. Cheating bastards still, but babyfaces. I get the sense that is the case for you as well. kevin I'll come out and say it. At first i was put off by the whole Nation thing you had going in 85. But it grew on me and you use it the right way. One thing I like about your booking is the way the heels will band together into cohesive units and use their numbers on the babyfaces. Then the babyfaces form these loose confederations that may or may not be able to stand in the face of these organized heels. You have the race-baiting from the 80s in the South down too. I'm a big fan of the way you advance your angles because it fits perfect with a Southern promotion. The amalgam of Mid South and Memphis gave you a lot of freedom and in the wrong hands it would have gone wrong quickly. You get it right though. gordi You have a great grasp of the Japanese scene at the time. I like how you put Tenryu above Jumbo. It shows you are willing to upset the apple cart as it were and rebuild it a different way. I also like how you use that idea in the kind of matches you present. As JWA it makes sense that you can do these things. No major competition. Your detailed show write-ups really capture the way a match goes without killing any enjoyment, which is a hard thing to do. I look at your booking as something like Abby becoming best buddies with Baba and getting in his ear about the kind of matches he ran. spaldoni So far I really like your focus on midcarders for your shows. Develop that young talent for the future and keep the blue chippers. Your style so far is an amalgam of everyone else's, which is a pretty cool read. You have the right instincts with where your wrestlers are going so far and how to get them there. I would say trust those instincts and follow them on how you write up your shows. Try what you want to try and build on it. This isn't a criticism because I enjoy your shows very much. I thought your Starrcade writing was your best writing because I thought it broke from the norm more. I just think you may be limiting yourself by not exploring the places you want to go. Edit: As for me, I'm a carpenter. I look at the nails and screws and the wood and figure out where I want to put it all and why. Then I tell you why in really long-winded ways. I really do envy the terse nature of your angles a lot of the time.

Embry was in PR and my plan was to ask you for him down the road. We'll talk.

That main event was awesome from start to finish. Benoit vs. Douglas would have been a ton of fun. Love me some Moondogs.

Very exciting card. The blood elimination match was lots of fun even if it's out of place in this setting. Heels winning the opener makes a lot of sense. I really dug the AWA challenge match, and Jumbo blowing it for his team by pushing too hard was really good as well.

I'd like to add that Harley being just the aggressor instead of full-on heel in St. Louis is a genius bit of booking.

I'd say JR's eyerolling has more to do with his recent history with Heyman. And as much as Heyman does come off as psycho, I don't think hiring guys like Cactus and Abby to do your bidding and expecting the desired results would be within that definition of crazy. Rude's promo is really good and I like it better than his initial promo as the Phantom. He comes across as a really serious threat to Sting. When you think about that it doesn't seem like much. But after most of 1991 it is definitely an upgrade. I will agree that even if Paul's "WCW doesn't appreciate it's talent" line wasn't a shoot it was right on target.