dawho5

So Rip Roger has to wrestle...Juan....Riivera. I'm pretty sure that overly repeated bit of commentary by Rip scarred me for life. Fuck you for that Rip Rogers. On to this match. Rogers is great stalling and finding a foreign object early. He hits TNT with it a few times and kicks him in the balls because Puerto Rico. And Rip Rogers has redeemed himself. That superkick outside the ring was all sorts of great and Rogers stuck in there to make it look even better. Rogers selling for TNT is really, really good on the comeback. Here's the thing, I just watched Abuddadein throw every 80s highspot in the book at Invader 1 and Carlos Colon. I was still 10 times more impressed by Rogers performance in a match where he brawled and used a foreign object for 95% of his offense. He hit a suplex and tried a crossbody from the top, those were the only two wrestling moves he did. Still miles better than the last 2 matches I watched. Crowd seemed kinda dead for some of the finishing run, not sure what to make of that.

Abuddadein is one of my least favorite wrestlers on the set. He just doesn't fit in Puerto Rico. Put him in someplace really workrate-y like Japan or even WCW and I think he works way better. Invader 1 gets a good match out of him, but it seemed like Colon was able to do a little better. I'd agree with Elliot that Abuddadein could use a little slower pace instead of just trying to get all of his shit in. It's PR, you don't need to do 3 different suplexes, a neckbreaker, a DDT, a piledriver and a top rope splash. In all reality, if you are doing all of that you should probably be a babyface, not the foreign heel of the moment.

Abuddadein seems like a pretty good offensive wrestler as far as variety, but his strike don't look great and I'm not sold on him working from underneath. Then again, Colon gives him a lot of the middle of the match so he doesn't have to. The more I see of Colon against these limited guys the more I think he's really good at working around their flaws and showcasing their strengths.

I liked that the fans had shit loaded up to throw at Embry as soon as he was out of the ring as well. Santana crashed and burned that splash in a really hurty looking way. Looks great and all but think about your career, man. Going in I expected a really good match because Santana is a good babyface and Embry is a great heel. And I got exactly what I expected. Definitely recommend it to fans of either.

I always like gimmick matches in PR because they use the damn gimmick instead of treating it like just another prop. Colon using the mask to bust Jason open was really good. I'd call whoever played Jason the Terrible a serviceable big man. not great, but up against somebody good he knew how to do his part. Colon can get a good gimmick match out of anybody though, so I may be wrong.

I'm glad we kept the subtext out of the English commentary. I'll second Kroffat and Castillo really putting together some nice sequences. I liked how Exotico kept some of the comedy stuff going during the heat with no detriment to the match. Finish was really good and showed how good everyone involved is at this point.

I thought Santana's work on the arm was good. He showed good fire when it was needed and sold well when it was called for. Sasaki is good here, but he doesn't fit the mold that Japanese guys are supposed to fit in the 80s outside of Japan. That is to say, he isn't a "martial arts master". Fun young guys match that gives you an idea of how they built up midcarders.

Nah, he's gonna have a box delivered and attack the wrong leg.

I loved how Ayala picked up a beercan that was thrown at him and hit Colon with it. Keep giving me weapons, he thinks. The brawling was awesome with both guys really laying it in. Colon's selling of that bearhug made it seem like something big. Ayala going back to it when Colon was on the apron was new to me. The figure four stuff was so good with a HUGE crowd pop when Colon turned it over. Gonna miss that Ayala guy a lot.

This match really put TNT over. He hung with Abby the whole match and never looked outclassed. Also, very fun fake martial arts stuff going on. Very good match.

My wrestling tastes have changed a lot and a little. It's hard to describe. I grew up on WCW, found japanese wrestling through the juniors and ended up being a huge 90s AJPW mark. Then it seemed to me that 96-99 WCW was really my sweet spot again because it combined so many elements of wrestling that I watched into one ridiculously satisfying whole despite all of the flaws. 1980s wrestling from across America really opened my eyes to what WCW came from and the parts of it that were lost to form what i had broken in on. Then I watched lucha and British wrestling a little more and found aspects of both that I really wished were more prevalent in other forms of wrestling. And I absolutely fell in love with how simple wrestling was in Puerto Rico. I can't say that any one of these things is defining in how I look at pro wrestling. I still love watching All Japan matches from the 90s when they come up and seeing how my opinions have changed on it. I still do enjoy some aspects of NJPW juniors even if some of the tropes drive me up a damn wall. I will always have a soft spot in my heart for late 1990s WCW. There are aspects of 80s territory wrestling, lucha, British wrestling and Puerto Rico that I love so much, but other parts of it that take me out of where I need to be to enjoy it as well. Mileage varies on that last bit. So in truth not a lot has changed about what I like with regard to most of it. NJPW juniors I struggle with a lot. Later 90s AJPW, NOAH and the slew of imitation styles...just can't do it. The big changes for me come in all the details, why I like a style, what I like within it, what I don't like. How all of that interacts when I watch has always been a constantly evolving thing and I think that's the important part.

I'm not saying HERE at the board. I'm saying as a population in general. I think more wrestling fans, especially western wrestling fans, will pop for a big suplex than a good punch or kick.

For some of us, yeah. But I'd guess there are more fans out there who mark out far bigger for the sick moves.

I took away the exact same thing. Ron Starr is amazing! I mean, Chicky is in there making him look like a million bucks, but Ron really kills it when he's on offense and when he's taking punishment. The fans throwing chairs to the wrestlers was pretty crazy. Great match.

Loved Garvin with the knee injury in the middle and how it affected the finish. Really good match that was surprisingly mat-based with almost no striking. Very good contrast to the rest of the set.

Jason was surprisingly agile and technically sound. TNT taking as much of the match as he did was a little puzzling given the size difference, but I enjoy TNT's offense. I'd go with fun for this one.

Finishers are difficult to do right. For a lot of reasons. 1. Ideally, it is protected. In WCW Goldberg's Jackhammer was pretty much it. Nobody kicked out of it and you KNEW once he hit it the match was over. That's great, but wrestling has evolved some since then and finisher kickouts became pretty common. Once people start kicking out of "the finisher" every PPV the first time or 2 because it is a big match and, hey I'm trying harder, it completely blows the concept up. It is no longer a finisher, just a move that more often than not puts somebody away. 2. AJPW in the early 90s did a lot right. You had your enzui lariats, lariats, Germans, back suplexes that everybody got to use. Then each guy had their signature stuff. Misawa had the frog splash. that didn't work, then work his way to a tigerdriver. Then on to the tiger suplex. Add in the rolling elbow. And the stepover facelock. Then we add the TD 91. And so on, it gave the idea that these moves COULD end matches, but as time went on these guys were evolving with them. People could take a regular tigerdriver and not stay down for the 3, so Misawa had to dig deeper. Then the tiger suplex. You get where I'm going here. Problem with that was, all of these earlier variants on the finisher became near-falls 99% of the time. With some notable exceptions like Kawada's powerbomb (66% of the time?), Taue's nodowa, Kobashi's lariat, etc. So you get this almost endless series of moves that are played out as real finishes. It's great for the building of the matches, but in the end it becomes too much. So why can't a guy have a finisher like let's say Danielson because, hey, he perfected the inside cradle? As mentioned above, if you do it right it should lock a guy up for 3. And why wouldn't it if the opponent was worn down? Seems like it would make the move that much more effective. The mistake is that everything had to get bigger. If everything HAS to get bigger, then sneaking in a well-done roll-up or signature submission becomes meaningless in the grand scheme of things. Look at AJPW as the 90s go on. The signature submissions (not finishers any longer) become meaningless. They are weardown holds. If a guy gets a backslide or a rollup or pinning combination off of a counter it's not going to win the match. Remind you of modern wrestling styles at all? Where do you think the modern style is cribbed from? All of these guys in the business now, who were they watching? 3. Finishers are a great idea. But then we get to the point where it HAS to be a finisher putting somebody away. Once that is the case, what is the point of a wrestler covering somebody when they hit a high level move that looks like it could be a finisher for somebody? We all know this isn't the end. It's not the finisher. It always ends on the finisher. So the buildup to the finish is great and all, with moves having more consequence and impact. But there is no real drama in anything. Unless you start kicking out of finishers right? You start to see where the problem is. So a summary of the problems. 1. finisher kickouts kill finishers 2. multiple finishers are great, but if it's not the newest "best" one it loses it's meaning 3. if a match has to end on a finisher, how do you create drama? kick out of the finisher Aaaand that takes us back to #1. Are there solutions? Sure. Multiple finishes with a few that should win the match (75% of the time low end) but can be kicked out of when the need arises, ONE this is the end, you-never-get-up-from-this-move-honest-to-God-FINISHER that is protected. Hey, maybe add in some lower end stuff like a guy who really has a good cobra clutch that he will throw out there once in a while and if you get caught in it not near the ropes it's a quick tap. Or like Luke Harper's discus lariat, perfect for a brawler type. Multiple ways of ending a match that involve yes, some big moves, but everyone has one or two brawly/power/skill moves that come out of nowhere and are a legitimate threat to any opponent. Hell, have some of the skill guys use some skill type things based off of their finishes. Misawa did a deal where he would land behind his opponents when they backdropped him off a tigerdriver attempt and usually got a German or a tiger suplex. Use the setup for one move to trick a guy into another. Sounds like something a crafty technical wrestler would do. Especially if he's wrestling some big beefy dude who is trying to knock him senseless. Instead of going directly at him, use the opponent's perceived strength against him. Another thing is squash matches. They serve many purposes. One of which is getting finishes over. I've seen this guy put away a ton of people with this move. Maybe the difference between job guys and your midcarders and up is the non-job guys fight the stuff they know will put them away more. It's not that they can just kick out of stuff better, it's that they are more skilled at avoiding the big stuff and that is what makes the matches longer and creates the need to wear them down. There are subtleties to all of this that would make it better, but it is certainly doable. When you think about the scripted nature of the product, it almost seems like it would be easier to get this kind of stuff over because you could pinpoint when and where which finish was used and the circumstances.

yeah it makes more sense given the setup that you'd have the heels be less overt. I also liked Thesz being around to explain the differences in styles, etc. It helps separate it from the standard wrestling of the era.

I didn't see it on youtube, but the one in May or June of 91 where Lawler comes back to get rid of Embry is one of the better fired up Lawler promos I've seen. For a more heelish version of Lawler look for stuff dealing with Snowman.

So LuttePhis?

Hell of a main event tag match. I am liking the Canada vs. Texas stuff a lot.

You definitely need to watch the snippets of Flair in the Memphis studio. Great "aww shucks" con job by Lawler. The other guy holds his end up too.

Good heel schtick with some fun teamwork to break it up by the Jayhawks. Battens are good as babyfaces, but have some of the weaker performances on the set so far.

Brito walking out on Borne has to have consequences. Rockers in a tag against the Freebirds is a great idea.

Bad News attacking Embry and Garvin was incredible. That dadgum Black Bart is definitely askin' for it. Martel beating Race is definitely a shocker and a good reason to tune into Starrcade. That's a TON of momentum for Martel going in.