AstroBoy

Whoa, congrats on The Ringer article. That's really nice exposure. Would have liked to see the Samoa Joe vs. Danielson match from 10/04 on there and maybe some Jimmy Jacobs on there but that's a good list.

Holy shit, Julius Smokes! Will listen imminently... loving the book by the way.

I really thought that was a terrible go-home show to be honest. No MJF, no real follow up to Punk and Eddie that was red hot. Plus a pointless Matt Hardy angle. Crowd was good though, I just thought this was a really weak lead in to the PPV outside of the final segment.

Hey man just want to say I dig the channel and really loved the Mox video. Keep up the good work!

Darby's matches against WALTER and Sabre, and to some extent, Thatcher in EVOLVE are really great stuff. Also the one brawl with Ethan Page where he won and it should have blown off their feud. Probably outside my list but he's a special talent.

I will probably vote for Brock. So he got to do things others didn't get to do? He got to break formula? So what, good for him. Wrestling needs more attractions like him, and good for him for advocating for something different. I won't hold his "shortcuts" against him at all. I would be much more apt to hold them against someone like Edge leaning on gimmicks or Michaels and HHH getting every main event shortcut in the book handed to them. With Brock, the shortcuts are inherent to who HE is. His advantages are Brock Lesnar advantages. I view him largely the same as Stan Hansen or Vader. A largely one-of-a-kind monster who actually transcended the WWE formula and made it so much more in lots of cases. Now. . . as far as where he'll place I'll have to watch performances again. But come on. He was great.

When I think of Bryan, in some way what sticks out to me most is the Brock match. After getting thrown around and getting the crowd to totally buy in that he might be dead, the monster reaction he got from that first upkick to Brock to start showing a flash of hope. His ability to get THAT kind of reaction out of so little should totally serve as an example of just how special he is at molding the best moments out of the situations he was presented with. I haven't watched the ROH stuff in a long time but Bryan is a possible number one for me.

I'm getting pretty excited for this to start up. Although I still like to follow and read about it, my interest in watching wrestling has nosedived this past year to the point where I wondered if something would bring me back. The prospect of being able to engage in a project like this again seems like the right thing. It was really the 2016 project that spurred me on to seek out a lot more stuff that I otherwise would have, so I have high hopes about being more active and involved this time around. I certainly do hope there is a lot less contention this time around. I personally enjoyed mostly all the banter last time around, even some of the talk that ended up being divisive for some, so I hope that everything stays in perspective and we all just chat a lot about good wrestling and our philosophies to this. Plus I can finally get myself to finish that Portland set

No specific requests about the pod discussion, just wanted to drop in here and say I'm excited that talk is going on about this. The 2016 project really expanded my wrestling fandom in a great way and I was sad to see some of the splintering that came in the aftermath. Hoping that this rendition will rejuvenate my desire to watch wrestling on a regular basis again. And thanks, Steven, for doing so much legwork to set this all back up.

This was fun! They kept it simple and basic and plugged in Sarge just well enough to get by...and it's simple until the fan swerve at least. Maybe I'm in a good mood but it was at least creative and kind of made for a dramatic final few minutes. Buff and Lex also were good stooge heels here for the most part so I consider this a win.

It's a little rough going until Chavo settles in to control, like they kind of have Shane outwrestling him early and also outquicking him but never really lean fully in to either. This is paced well and the broad strokes are good as Chavo is more seasoned, but Helms gets these flashes. He is a little sloppy and kind of comes off like Nova in that he's more spots than any fire or charisma but it works enough. Chavo shuts it down with a brainbuster and it's a real good walking the line between him as a strong division ace and just getting that lucky big shot to survive a big challenge. ***

This was too short and exhibitiony to really be noteworthy but both guys looked good and seem to have alright chemistry. Ki had no problem doing early mat stuff, Guido puts Ki's kicks over. They then do a baffling and out of nowhere draw and nobody is happy.

Brock had a few moments of hesitation/awkwardness here but I don't know if it was all on him. He's a real specimen already and had some great power offense. This wasn't much but it was a nice glimpse at Brock and Shelton together early on.

Man this was pretty fun and they went pretty all out. Manages to have lots of cool spots while feeling like a spirited fight at the same time. I thought there were some weird AJ moments where he'd grab a submission and sort of willingly give it up to move on to something else. Air Paris had some sketchy selling down the stretch as well but AJ wins the title after interference and a big splash. ***

Hash vs Misawa is awesome stuff, both are so good dishing it out but really selling big-time even early on for each other. This is full of chippiness and I love Ogawa here trying to be taken seriously and accounting pretty well for himself. Just tons of good action back and forth and a nice and definitive ending. ***3/4

They play up Kobashi being able to largely get the better of Akiyama but unable to stave off Vader here. Really nice run of escalating stuff on Kobashi toward the end of the match. Taue is relatively quiet here. Vader kills Kobashi with a crazy moonsault for a big win. ***1/2

I think they aimed a little too high and they could have cut 5 minutes off this at least but these two clearly have a good thing going by now. Cabana is plenty good as a babyface on offense, especially with his early control. Also one hell of a fist drop. It meanders a bit toward the end and they botch a reverse rana though they cover nicely. Punk takes advantage of some chaos to hit Cabana with the Pepsi Plunge for the win.

Super Crazy keeps talking to Gabe who is apparently filming this. Nothing super notable here aside from them teasing a table stop and not delivering which kind of bums out the crowd. It's mostly two good opponents doing some of their greatest hits so it's hard to go wrong, but it doesn't really rise past being just good.

This was a ton of fun. These guys worked this with enough of a classic tag structure to give it some shape but what they clearly excel at here is big spots and sequences and they pull off some killer stuff nicely. Super Dragon has a big time feel to him and there is just a certain kind of go for broke chemistry that these guys all seem to have. ***

Every pairing here offered something and that's on full display in the first fall, where they really get a chance to get some stuff going and establish stuff for the match. I really liked Shocker here a lot. The Wagner vs Atlantis stuff was clearly a highlight and this has an ending with some oomph too. ***1/2

This was about as fun as this was going to be. They did a great job with the interplay between all four guys and the different pairings kept things moving at all times without stagnating. Rikishi winning is a good call as none of the others need that edge heading into the Rumble. ***

This was a blast and sets the tone for some of their future stuff. Austin is so aggressive and rough and despite for the title and he sets a great pace, but things get real great when Angle takes over and starts wearing out Austin with suplexes. In the past I'd had problems with Kurt doing lots of punch kick stuff to fill time on offense and it's so much better with him dropping that to throw suplexes here. Austin is great throwing his body around on offense and defense, making everything seem out of control and intense. Could have done with a finish but this was great. ***1/2

Good energetic trios with Benoit standing out as just so sharp and aggressive. Jericho's hot tag is good and Saturn gets a few nice moments too. Jericho gets the win and the postmatch is all about Malenko and Lita

I like Chavo as a bargain level heel cruiserweight standard bearer in dying days WCW. The match isn't great. No need for 2 chinlock segments from Chavo. But it was fine. Shannon botches a top rope thing, Chavo covers and everything he does is solid before he wins with a great brainbuster.

After a slow started, Samurai gets a DDT on Mandora and this sets off the NJPW team getting meaner and more disrespectful as their control stretches on. Liger has some vicious palm strikes and Samurai rakes at Mandora's face when Liger has him up in a surfboard. They kick off a long finishing run with the moves ramping up, and Delfin finally cradles Samurai for the win. ***1/2