Matt D

The O'Connor/Brisco training session from the CWF episode is phenomenal. Just such cool kayfabe stuff that makes everything better (especially as it foreshadowed the finish of the non-title match). The Steinborn vs Dory match is something we had before but it's really spry and fun. The matwork in Brisco vs Matsuda is off the charts great. And the picture journey from the year before felt really special too. Good stuff.

Five minutes of Rip Rogers stalling against Adrian Street is the way to go.

Like Savage/Taker. Enough already.

Next week's are Thursday at 10 am. That'll be the first real telling sign of how this will go long-term.

Bossman was a super fun three minute b show tv worker in 00-02. He put so many little touches into such short matches.

Honestly? I thought it was executed weakly. They needed to keep the beatdown going for at least another minute to ramp up the pressure. Park and Hijo de Park pretty much just followed Los Ingobernables out, like they were overeager to get out there. It really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things since them just being there is all that matters but I was disappointed when I saw it. They were out literally six seconds after the beatdown started. All payoff, no build.

Not sure of the date or if there's a thread, so replying here. This was right in line with part of why I started this project. I haven't seen any of this stuff, really. I haven't seen a Toni Storm match. It's not that I haven't had any interest but there's only so much time and so much to watch so I'm glad I had a chance to. This was a very fun sprint which was part comedy, part quick paced action. It felt like it's purpose was to cement the Storm/Mayu team/friendship by showing them overcome a well-oiled machine unit. I thought the early comedy stuff with Hana was tremendous. Just absolutely confidence and commitment to character. Likewise the heels (they're heels to me at least) utilization of the ribbon/objects felt like pure ritual, things the fans would know and respond to. Great execution on the rope running/most of the spots though I wish that maybe they went slightly more simple on things that were two degrees too complex (Storm's corner backcracker thing, for instance, but on the other hand, I absolutely loved the roll up into the corner spot). Wolf is the world's best Skandalo. There were a couple of instance of the story just dropping out. I liked that it kept going back to the heat due to the heels working together/cheating, like with the double suplex spot, but then one rotation later, they had another suplex spot that really went to the heels without incident. I would have liked to see a callback or the first one built upon because it would have furthered the story more than the heels just reestablishing their dominance for no reason. Likewise, I would have liked a break-up from Storm after the top rope double knee (especially since it was immediately followed by Hana running interference on her, really for no reason since she didn't break it up). Those are nitpicks though. In general, I thought this accomplished what it set out to do pretty effectively and it's obvious what Storm brings to the table both with her explosiveness and with her ability to react to character appropriate comedy spots..

Who is this person? Someone who says IWC and thinks everyone is being buried except Roman Reigns? Beats me. I just follow Benjamin Wittes, Walter Shaub, and Natasha Bertrand on twitter, no wrestling people.

I can't understate how great the crowd is for Piper vs Valentine.

And, our eternal corollary, what else might have?

It all goes back to people (fans) feeling like they can be a part of something. They can be part of what feels like a smaller more in-the-know "elite" group if they walk around wearing a Prichard shirt. It makes them feel better than the common fan and gives them something to identify with.

If they release this much stuff every week, it'll be nuts. I'm believing this thing will peter out within a few weeks because history hasn't told me to believe otherwise. It's possible that they have a month or two of this queued though.

If someone gets the trademark to Wrestleyear now...

I'm sure you'll feel better when a tall, awkward goon breaks it up to set up a different match with Bryan.

I think a lot of that was his opponent. It's interesting. One of my favorite things about 2018 Bryan is how he channels the YES in the matches themselves. With the Rusev match, it was through sort of a writhing but rhythmic body sell. Here (before the kicks) it was his hands and it didn't really catch on as much as I thought it might.

I enjoy first act Daniel Bryan acting like arm-wringer Stan Hansen, whereas Jeff tried to reverse the hold with normal sorts of babyface arm-pulling and Bryan just ate him alive and forced him to do other things to get any offense. Bryan comes off as such a methodological machine on offense now, a real force. Anyone who was worried about him just coming off like another guy due to the booking isn't actually watching the matches. It might just be me, but I'm still hyper-sensitive to every bump in a Bryan match, not even just his. Something like the way Hardy took the feet through the ropes was nasty. Then you see something like the knee-block of the Swanton and wonder just how they manage that without breaking each other. I thought the top rope teases to set up the whisper in the wind were very strong. Just good building block spot creation where everything had an air of danger, made sense, and led right into the prestige spot. I really liked the twist-of-fate stunner and think Hardy should have been using that fifteen years ago as his watered-down variation to set up the Swanton, but his lack of "stuff" after the dodged knee was pretty evident. I wasn't feeling his Ricky Morton roll-ups in the finishing stretch when it's obvious Bryan had so much more in the tank. Again, maybe it's not the best guy to do it against, but establishing a new finishing weapon, just like that, for Bryan is going to make all of his matches even MORE interesting moving forward. Every 2018 Bryan match we get is a gift and a joy.

I was mainly noting what the problem was vs developmental a few years back. It's pretty much the only thing Meltzer could have been referring to, especially since the NXT house style has shifted so much since then. We just had Almas vs Gargano a couple of months ago. I think Rollins is generally fine now if he's working a base, though he has a few aggravating spots (but most people do). He's somewhat less fine if he's working someone who's more apt to bring out his worst tendencies. I think he could have a really good match with a guy like Braun right now.

So far as I can remember, the big issue in development is that Terry Taylor wanted him to rein things in and do less and go slower and try to tell more of a story and Rollins wanted to do the things that Ziggler's been forever held back for (as he defies the office to wrestle how he wants): hit as much stuff as possible (and bump as much as possible) with as much energy as possible. This was back in one of the documentaries, Breaking Ground or the SHIELD one from a few years ago or something. Now he wants to burn things down.

What is that exactly? See above.

Sell and do shit with resonance instead of just getting your stuff in and popping the crowd?

From what I've heard, he's very similar with Fuller, and you and I share the same opinion on 6:05, so that came as a surprise.

Nothing matters anymore.

It's 2018. Break the chains of immediacy. Watch things on your terms.

Did they put a wig on Goldberg?

Maybe he'll finally start a rasslin' company.