Matt D

Wasn't his big face turn about Santa Claus?

Did post comeback Brock even draw more than once?

They should mention it in a measured way. Hell they do that on Ninja Warrior. "Here's a football player. He's big and strong and explosive, but football players don't always transfer well into Ninja warrior because..." There's such an inferiority complex in wrestling that the idea of someone saying "Brock's been competing in MMA circles for the last few years but WWE is a different game with different rules and different needs (stamina in a non-round system, different things being legal, pressures of submissions different with rope breaks, I don't know)" would never, ever happen. Steph showing ass for the first time in a year to Ronda didn't do anyone a bit of good when the night was over.

To be fair, I never quite liked it then either. I'm consistent on this one. Speaking of that, it's not kayfabe so much as consistency across a card (or, hate to use the word, but "universe") that's an issue. Brock is at least physically massive in a way that's not replicated with females.

I'd be happier with Stacey's deranged Diva's Revenge angle than this.

I don't like it because the Von Erich's had great matches. But I kinda like it because that makes the next logical step that the Dems are the Freebirds. Michael Hayes is Bernie Sanders? By this logic, Killer Khan is James Comey.

At the end of the day and with all details aside, the service was the most I enjoyed wrestling in a long time. It was something to look forward to every week if not every day. I know not everything probably went how you thought it might, but there's never really been footage quite like this (I stand by that), and we've seen enough of it to recreate a clear and vivid image of Paul Boesch's Houston Wrestling, something that had been lost relative to other "territories." We're going to carry that forward, like we do with Portland or Memphis. I hope we get more. But I'm glad that we were able to see what we did.

The build was for something more than a Brock match. They didn't deliver.

She did basically get Sasha's top of the card heel run on Raw, no?

Is there more from the 50s than the 60s?

I think he's going to do fine on the indies.

crossposting: Simple, straightforward wrestling works for a reason. This was meat and potatoes. Roddy started strong. Roode kept getting advantages by taking a powder or using space or the ref as a distraction. The babyface outwrestles the heel in the shine. The heel gets advantages in underhanded (but not necessarily chickenshit) ways. The face powers through it. Roode was great at stooging throughout this, at drawing heat, at making the babyface look good. Their timing and crispness was solid the whole match. There was polish throughout. Everything looked like it it like it was supposed to but always organically. There was just base professionalism in that regard. Strong made up for the size disadvantage with speed and finesse and by focusing right from the get go on the back. The first act ends with a bit of heat and comeback/cut off spots before Strong's comeback. He gets his foot caught in the stairs. Roode capitalizes and we're into act 2. Legwork is used so often for a reason too. It's highly visual, with the whole body coming into play. There's a ton you can do to the leg (and Roode does both simple and more complex things). The selling works for the back rows. And it's so, so easy to set up cut off spots with it. Even a crowd so smarky can be taken up and down (especially given the emotional build and use of the family), and they do that, with Roddy fighting back repeatedly, occasionally getting in shots on Roode's back, only to get cut off with a kick to the leg, or by not being able to lift Roode up correctly. They use this to foreshadow him eventually hitting moves, thus giving everything meaning. Ultimately, that sort of thing is what I loved about this match the most. Nothing in the match happened without reason. They didn't do any spot just to hit a spot. Everything had a narrative reason behind it or at least in shaping it. Nothing was done because it was cool. I'm not just talking about transitions here. The first glorious DDT didn't end the match because Roode had just eaten a bunch of backwork and made sure to sell just for a couple of seconds before trying for the pin. It wasn't just another finisher kick-out; it was worked as part of the match. That foreshadowing? It was for a fireman's carry lungblower, and when Strong DOES hit it, it's by the ropes and Roode rolls out. By the time Strong gets him back in, he can't get the 3 count. It protects the move, protects Strong to a degree (if only he hit that in the middle of the ring!), makes Roode seem both vulnerable and canny at the same time, and furthers the escalation of the match. The kickouts, even finisher kickouts, aren't WWE MAIN EVENT STYLE (or, I assume, NJPW style), but instead something explained and organic. It's not about workrate or fighting spirit. It's about storytelling. That's why this works.

Early 1984 Dave was fairly energized/optimistic by/about Hogan. It didn't last (to the point where he does his "retirement" issue, what, a year later?). I think that even if current Dave might give Hogan a specific sort of credit, he wouldn't have love for some of the actual matches (let's say... oh, Quake, Slaughter, Bossman) that some of us thoroughly credit and enjoy. I'm not even sure he could understand WHY we enjoyed them, even if we tried to explain it to him.

Cagematch is an awesome resource but their 2000 indy results are fairly spotty. To be fair, everything about indy wrestling after 2000 is fairly spotty.

Opinions are opinions, but 1.) That's probably true. It syncs up with pretty much all of the 90s WON comments on lucha and a whole bunch of other things and 2.).. what a shitshow that this guy was and is the driving force on pro wrestling commentary forever and always. What a terrible, empty, way to gauge good pro wrestling.

There's a difference between Bix chastising Kris for not watching Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego as a kid or Kris explaining some element of sportsball to Bix (who has just confused two people he probably shouldn't confuse) or a discussion of why Blockbuster went out of business and what I brought up, in 2017. That said, I've got the 15 second jump button on my phone. So the onus is ultimately on me to use it. I was just voicing a preference as it's an element that disrupts something a show I otherwise enjoy. On a positive note, I thought they really painted a vivid picture of the dire position WCW was in during this specific period due to the overexposure of injured Sting (which really isn't talked about) and the lack of built heels. Until Russo comes on, there might not be a more "WCW, Everybody" year than 1990.

In truth, I'm not actually sure Casas had a better 2014 than anything in Michaels' career but you could at least have that argument I think.

Michaels never had a year as good as Casas' 2014, let alone the 90s.

Take this as constructive, but if I never again hear Kris earnestly wondering what some female from 20 years ago looks like now (let alone the outright talk about what's shown and not shown in a playboy spread, but I feel like that'd veer more into nonconstructive criticism), it'd still be too soon.

I almost cried at Elliott's 5000-word rationale for why Sasha Banks is better than Bret Hart when I saw it this in my inbox this morning.

Transparency is a pretty basic necessity, and to be honest, it'd probably garner a lot of good will.People are generally forgiving if they're communicated with openly. That said,if WWE made a better offer, we probably would have seen

I get that it's the holiday weekend and all, but since we haven't had an upload in a week+ now, it would have been nice to get something to celebrate the two year anniversary. This has absolutely been the best thing about wrestling over the last two years. Nothing else is even close.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/340417-trump-takes-down-cnn-in-mock-wrestling-video This is only slightly more surreal than him tweeting praise for JBL.

This is shocking and terrible. I might have more to say at some point but for now, that's where I am.