Matt D

Hall's posture makes him look 90. That's probably what I'm going to look like when I'm 45 mind you.

So... what a waste, right?

If you're going to go longer, have some sort of narrative. This has just been pretty back and forth. It's been hard hitting with big impacts and somewhat of a build of bigger moves and violence but it needed more than that. If they're going to cool Lashley off by making him more heelish and doing the bounty angle, actually play that up in the match itself and make some sort of narrative out of it! Have Lashley show that vulnerability and paranoia (while still being powerful and dangerous) instead of it just being detached from the last month of TV. Use the build as a tool.

Would this have been better if they didn't spend the last month cooling off Lashley?

At least the guys on the hard camera side are really into this.

This has been fine but if these guys, I'm doing more to interact with the crowd.

I'm confused. Isn't there a 2 minute time limit on WWE Main Event Title matches?

Urgh, I'm not ready for the Dunn cuts. I have to relax my gaze like I'm doing magic eye so I don't get sick. I'm in the same club as you guys. I've got my first Pfizer shot in me from 3:30 today and it's giving my stomach some issue weirdly enough.

It's nice to be able to hear at least some earnest and honest crowd noise, but there's definitely not a boom.

They should have given Drew the Triple H entrance this year.

Ok, I'm here now, at least for a bit. I was watching this Lacey vs Sara Del Rey match during the rain delay. I feel for Drew and Lashley.

It was weird and a little offputting but some of the specific story beats were both good and striking with the kid being an interesting component. I remember at the time feeling like it came too close to another seemingly "imaginary" story but I recall what that was off the top of my head.

I like the blindfold matches and could see that logic adding to a #30 case if you really squint (and that’s around where he was for me) but not a top ten one. I do really like his heel performance vs Lawler though!

I’m not aware of any new Martel footage but I can’t see possibly ranking him in the top ten when the heel run, which is what he’s best known for, doesn’t generate anything good. That’s years of his career, plenty of matches on tape. It has to hurt him. You can’t just avoid it.

Most transcendent cinematic match?

@El Dragon Send me some Lacey matches, pal.

I'm pretty convinced that if Vince/the agents let Ryback had exactly the same sort of matches that they allowed Brock to have over the last five or six years (ones that broke all the rules), those matches would have been pretty much just as well received and 80% as good.

I really liked the babyface match vs Slater we got too.

I'm personally much more interested in people who come up with interesting transitions or integrate narrative bits that you didn't see much before them or that use old moves in new ways than that come up with new moves. Even when it comes to new moves, it's much more about how those moves are utilized and the effect they get out of them as opposed to moves for the sake of moves. I can imagine plenty of scenarios where "innovation" is ultimately detrimental and influence can be negative. So it's going to be on a case by case basis.

The Saint comparison isn’t bad for Chemoul. His stuff has hit and resonated in the moment more for me. Lots of people love Saint though and I imagine people who love Saint will love Chemoul. One reason I’m hesitant to rank a lot of the Catch guys is that the style lends itself to me giving people a pass for things I wouldn’t in WoS, where there are plenty of guys where I wouldn’t need to give a pass. But I’ll flesh that out more in months and years to come. For now, I really want people other than the four of us to delve into this footage and break things down.

Arroyo has been pretty good in the French footage! I want to go and see that. 1. I'm going to have to make a list of all the Catch we've watched because the blogspot design isn't the best. I'll do it in the next month. That'll be the best place to find the matches too. 2. Having been at this for a few hours, I've learned immediately that I have zero desire in 2021 to rewatch anything from 2012-2020 that I've already seen. Zero desire. The idea of watching stuff I liked at the time, like the Shield six-mans is just absolutely nil. That surprised me a bit. There's plenty of time and I just want to focus on what I've been focusing on, all of which is new to me, or at least new to me in context. It means it might be hard to get into certain discussions immediately though, but hey, we have time.

I'm going to GLF that at some point to see if reality hasn't warped in the last seven or eight years.

So much of that match was that they went short since he was wrestling twice. Cut ten minutes off of every HHH match and see what happens.

As of March 65, we disagree strongly with OJ on this.

I forgot Smackdown existed.