Matt D

More importantly, can someone scout out the Cena vs Reigns match for the community and tell us if it's any good. There's a decent fan cam easy to find on youtube. I only was able to see the first few minutes but it's obvious they're having fun with the heat.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/39465-masahito-kakihara-vs-takaku-fuke-uwf-atlantis-102590/ Thanks to shodate for this. It was something I would have never come across on my own but I enjoyed it and remarked that it felt a lot like the Fuchi vs Nakano match I'd seen recently, even if it was a very different style.

Context for timelessness' sake: I watched this based on the match review trade project we've been doing in 2018 (Secret Santo) and my immediate point of comparison was a match I had been given a few weeks before, Masanobu Fuchi vs. Shinichi Nakano (AJPW 4/16/1989). It was the same sort of young guy vs older guy (though Fuke's just a few years older), where the younger guy was brash and energetic and the older guy was able to just manhandle him for much of the match, until through perseverance, the younger one got a break and picked up the surprise win. Now I have very little outside context on this, so I'm not 100% sure that's what I saw, but it's what it felt like. That's the universal storytelling power of pro wrestling, because in many other ways, the two matches were quite different. Shootstyle is very much it's own creature, based more on struggle and openings than spots and transitions. I've only dipped my toe into it. The story felt universal even if the norms were very different. I've seen some shootstyle but maybe not enough to have a great sense of what's very good and what's not. To me, this felt solid. I bought into it, which was the most important thing. The selling felt appropriate, probably because they were actually kicking each other. The counters felt visceral. You want it to feel 'real' in a way that you don't necessarily need more symbolic wrestling to feel (that you just need to feel genuine). There were a lot of little things you wouldn't see elsewhere like Fuke outright missing an armbar at one point or that crazy no assistance powerslam. I thought Fuke was great at being three moves ahead. If he was in a hold, he'd grab one body part to get the next to get the third which would get him out. Fuke really dominated throughout but Kakihara was wry and game. He kept coming back for more and didn't let Fuke breathe. I thought he was about to get put away right before he sneaked out the win, but sneak it out he did. It was a matter of staying alive long enough to get an opening and then taking it when he got it. I'm always impressed when I see a well-worked shootstyle match but a little goes a long way with me. I do want to see Fuke go up against Fujiwara though.

This popped online earlier tonight. It's a very interesting match because so much DIDN'T work smoothly. I wholeheartedly believe that it was due to a skill gap but it made everything seem very gritty and full of struggle to me. I don't know if the match earned it but, to me, it certainly had it. I wish Warrior was able to take a longer stretch, especially after the assault on the leg to start the tercera. I don't know. I don't get any sense you guys saw the same grittiness i saw, some of which might have been real life frustration from Atlantis. Anyone else want to take a look?

He was in Phil and Eric's #2 match of the year last year too. WKO + SC + Finlay feels like a pretty good cross-section to me (but maybe I'm biased).

It's hard to say what's in that contract. I don't know certainly. They could maybe get away with giving them 205 live as the third hour or something else that could be region specific. Are we sure they don't already get the 2 hour Hulu Raw?

I was making a gag? Though it's not like Callihan hasn't been active for twelve years. The weirder blindspot to me is the fact that people are just ignoring how well regarded Callihan was in 2011-12 (14 on the 2011 WKO 100 for instance, 11 in 2012). It's not like he's just some indy guy here. He's also a guy who spent years in the WWE developmental system.

Isn't one element of this that Fox is losing all of their programming except for sports if the sale to Disney goes through?

I feel like the punchline is that Callihan was trained by Les Thatcher?

It was absolutely the best women's rumble of all time. You can't convince me otherwise.

It's not rocket science. The fact that half the field weren't weekly talent meant that there could be fresh and novel interactions literally every few minutes. I'm not saying it was particularly difficult booking but frankly, neither were the 89-92 ones either. They were very much built on the novelty of seeing wrestlers who don't usually interact get to interact. It basically wrote itself but it was hugely different and enjoyable, something WWE really isn't able to offer us otherwise in 2018.

A Rumble, more than anything else in wrestling, isnt about precision or hitting stuff cleanly or quick paced exchanges (or matwork, etc). Its about moments and surprises and character interactions that you dont often see. Its judged on its own standards.

Presumably Hunter has as many detriments in all of the other areas as gains? He's got as many terrible moments as memorable ones. On promos, he has years of 20 minute opening Raw segments that were just dreadful. He's the king of bloated matches that would actually be pretty good if you just cut seven minutes off of them, etc. The guy has drawbacks in every category for everything he did well.

It's more like Cena's quest to avoid being in a multi-man match with Miz.

Davey had to feud with Warlord for 9 months.

Week 9 Jetlag dawho5 WingedEagle migs SPS laz Richeyedwards Nintendo Logic Tim Evans Rah fxnj joeg HeadCheese concrete1992 Matt D shodate shodate, I'm pretty much limited to youtube and what can be found relatively easily. I'm assuming you're going to give me some obscure shootstyle match I've never seen before (and I haven't seen much there), but I'll take whatever you have for me. I'm sending you far afield. You listed Norman Smiley in your top 100, almost certainly due to his UWFi work, I'm sure. Here's him in Mexico vs La Fiera:

I want an elaborate HHH MMA entrance with the train of seconds and whatever.

That's the issue. If the rumors are correct and this is all about making Steph more of a star, we're going to be back to none of this mattering in three months.

http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41200-bob-esponja-lady-maravilla-patricio-estrella-vs-buzz-lightyear-chelly-rock-sky-kid-jaguar-monterrey-51213/ Spongebob vs Buzz Lightyear. More proof that I can't not over-analyze things! Thanks Tim.

Just to make this crystal clear, Patricio Estrella is Patrick the Starfish and Bob Esponja is Spongebob Squarepants. Buzz Lightyear is Buzz Lightyear, yes. And this was lucha, big and broad, with mean punches and all sorts of antics. Some things are just so universal. The tecnicos controlled the primera. The rudos took over in a great way. There was a bit of miscommunication leading into the tercera and a bunch of holds and breakups before they went into the dives and a final match up. It was lucha. Some things worked. I loved how open and huge they had to be with the throws and rope running because of the suits. They were playing to the very last row of an arena, just in front of a crowd of thirty or whatever. Patricio bumped awesomely, really making the most out of the suit and the visual. Sky Kid's punches were appropriately mean. Maravilla seemed competent enough. The one or two real exchanges between Buzz and Bob were legit good. Some things REALLY worked. The Bob dive tease right before the transition was so good that I was frustrated when Sky Kid cut it off. The transition, with him hitting one of the best low blows I've ever seen from a prone position was hilarious and will stick with me. I liked the mauling out of the ring (and the squashing of Patricio's face). The tecnico comeback was fine and came due to the Buzz costume getting in Sky Kid's way which was clever-seeming even if unintended (who knows). The Buzz dive was tremendous, as was his To Infinity and Beyond finish in the segunda. Some things didn't work. Chelly was the worst, just miserable. They never paid off the Bob dive tease. I wanted more rudo miscommunication comedy at the end instead of just breaking up holds. This would have been better in 1988 (which is a notion I have a lot of times watching matches like these.). Anyway, it's worth watching for the novelty.

Wasnt that the bump she took at Mania XXX?

I'm looking at joeg/migs on, jmare out. Will probably roll the dice tomorrow night (I'm still in the process of writing up mine, too). Anyone else back on or temporarily off?

He screams pro wrestling and is everything casuals would expect in a good way.

But Brock didn't beat him.

If they wanted mainstream attention, they should have shifted the belt off of Brock and done Brock/Rousey vs Hunter/Steph. That would have been the biggest thing in a decade.