Matt D

Meaningless depth can only help a best of the 80s set whether or not it does much for how much money a promotion takes in.

That's one great thing about WWF. There are just so many matches with so many talented guys. Yeah, it was sort of an environment set up to fail, but you'll get random stuff like an 18 minute PTW Harley Race vs Koko Ware match that means nothing but is still tons of fun.

Dylan and I got in there real quick on those posts. We shaped the arguments!

I wouldn't be surprised if there aren't a bunch of pretty good 86-89 PTW/MSG/Boston/MLG/etc. matches with him too. There are a bunch of Beefcake and Muraco matches sure, but there's a Jake match here and a Tito match there. A Davey Boy match. A couple of Blue Blazer matches. Etc. I might watch some stuff.

The roll up is what has me confused. That's a really strange decision.

I was kind of disappointed that there wasn't a standout Long Riders match. I like Bill Irwin at times.

Everyone has to go watch that Flame shooting Bob Armstrong thing. And maybe even cooler are clips of Heel Bob.

I will say something in general about face vs face matches though. If something tells a good enough story and a compelling enough story, I don't think you need nastiness. There are narratives that don't necessarily involve wrestlers being nasty. They can be good and compelling, so long as the wrestlers are trying to win. I think the idea that a match innately needs hate to be good is very dismissive. This goes back to my argument about violence or blood or whatever else. Hate is a tool in telling a good story, not an end in and of itself.

Man, that was a MUCH better shout out than last time. I don't even think I'm going to weigh in on Brad vs Martel then. That bought my neutrality. Wow. Will really detests Canadians huh? He's the Zeb Coulter of podcasts. I'm going to picture him with Dutch Mantell's giant mustache from now on. Also, while I agree that neutered heel Mr. Perfect is a shade of what we see here, Hennig has some pretty solid heel matches in AWA and his 93 face run in WWF is actually pretty great as a face. The Doink series of three matches, the Hart tag vs Luger/Ramon, the Bret match at KOTR, the fun six elimination man with Jannety/Tatanka vs Michaels/Diesel/Bam Bam. Granted, he had pretty lackluster matches vs Michaels.

I think I like the Russians way more than the Warriors, but I hate Nikita and Ivan squashes because they last forever. I suppose that makes me a nuanced commie. Anyway, Brody sucks and the Warriors match pretty much sucks (The High Flyers vs Warriors match is actually pretty good). I like that first tag a lot because it has lots of faces trying to cheat and fail and when they succeed it's a big deal. Larry Hennig pretty much sucks in 1984 too.

Tatsu is learning to play the guitar.

Are they turning Jericho on Ryback tonight?

ha I love the idea that Henry wrestles Khali at mania just to see Dylan explode.

Oh man, that was hilarious.

if they're just a "tad" then that's pretty good for them.

Heeeeey, It's a PPV. Obviously, everything's coming up Johnny.

Never before has a chinlock based match been more necessary.

I am so impressed with how they lay out Shield matches. I'm not sure I've ever seen this level of detail with WWE in packaging character through in-ring work. They really play up, through the ringwork, how the Shield is able to outnumber and isolate. The way that they won that match because Sheamus was out, SOLELY because Sheamus was taken out, was brilliant. It's such a little thing but because they do it consistently, it creates a branded overarching theme that is super effective.

I think there's an alternate reality where Cena grew into being an amazing Southern Tag FIP.

They should be able to have a pretty good match though. I mean it's just the opener. Not like it matters. That's your Santana vs The Executioner match. You could do worse.

I would have been vaguely interested in Rhodes Scholars vs Bookdust.

Man, why didn't they have him kill Booker T

The way this is structured, they're setting it up to have Henry just plow through guys.

I typed that right before the finish. I amended my opinion. I love the Lawler match too, but if that thing had a finish that was even halfway decent, it would have been better.

That was shaping up to be pretty much the best Miz match ever, right?