Matt D

In short, he was an early adopter, sort of a pioneer on the digital stage, one who was adept at producing a lot of content in a short period of time. In an age when it was a lot harder to easily access some random 1993 (or 1989 or 1994, etc) PPV, his reviews were more or less the easiest way to learn about them for an entire generation of younger fan at the beginning of the internet age. Since he gobbled up a huge amount of that intellectual and factual space, this allowed him far more influence than he would have had otherwise. Ultimately, he propagated dumbed down and less nuanced Meltzerian views, which probably still have a trickle-down effect even today.

I wish we had more than the 6 and a half minutes of this but what we do have is a lot of fun. You always come into a match like this hyper-examining Stevens because it's relatively early footage for him and you want to find some glimpse of the magic. He throws himself into moves with abandon, almost enough so to make it comedic and there's a sort of emotional investment in his own moves that is well-appreciated but certainly nothing that paints him as an all time great. I do love the two of them on offense though. They have a double drape over the top rope which is really nasty for 1974 (and ends the second fall). It gets a call back to set up the end of the third fall which is really nice. They also have this cool double kick near the corner and cut off the ring well for as little as we've seen. Bock looks pretty young, relatively and moves with a slight spring he wouldn't have in the following decade. I love the set up to the first fall's finish, where he's got the advantage off the ropes but Kusatsu leaps up mid-run to catch him in a front facelock and immediately suplexes him. That sets up two bulldogs and the pin. I don't think I've ever seen it done quite that way. I wish we had more Stevens/Bock than we do.

When you look at defenses, Brocks title has basically become less prestigious than the CMLL Heavyweight Title, which is a crazy thought.

I wonder what the SLA is? Are there metrics which would cause WWE to fail here or is it just bulletproof for them?

I need to see more Cooper.

Henry announced to a room full of special needs kids that he's entering the Rumble because of them. They applauded after it was translated. He's going to be in it.

I know I've seen their 92 match but I don't think I've seen that one (or at least I haven't written about it). Here's what I have for you: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/34448-dick-slater-vs-mongolian-stomper7982-houston-wrestling/

I went to an NXT show in Baltimore (Bel Air, MD) two years ago. The crowd was mostly good. They were into everything. In fact, they were in to the match I'm about to talk about. It was No Way Jose vs Elias. This was his first or second match back from injury. Given who was in there (and maybe the bit about the injury), it was worked with chinlocks, in and out. There was a solid sense of struggle. They brought the crowd up for hope spots and then down for cheap cut offs. Jose was charismatic. Elias was hated. They worked the hold. It was the entire middle portion of the match (the whole heat really) and once Jose came back, they went to the finish. This was the last match before intermission and all of it was plenty over. Perfect match with the perfect wrestlers at a perfect time on the card for a perfect crowd. The guy behind me griped about how they were just doing a resthold though.

Has anyone seen them together in the same place? I kid; that interview was a lot of fun actually.

Week 17 Richeyedwards is out for a bit. Wingedeagle as well. JoeG is back. Edger is back. Victor is on. IpponDropkick is on. Random draw says: Victator dawho5 DR Ackerman IpponDropkick jetlag AstroBoy SirEdger Matt D shodate Tim Evans JoeG oldbirds HeadCheese Nintendo Logic You know the deal. First and foremost, make sure your partner has a match. I'm hoping to spin for next week Weds Night/Thurs Morning so that's your timeline. Edger, something coming your way ASAP.

A chinlock has to be used for a greater narrative purpose and executed with some sense of struggle. Ultimately, though, it, like Keith himself, is just a tool.

Sure. Everyone's welcome.

I'm thinking of giving another day before randomizing for this week. Some matches just got exchanged in the last day or so. WingedEagle and Edger are both stepping back on this week? Anyone else on or off?

This was Masahito Kakihara vs. Yoshiaki Fujiwara from 8/14/17. I don't know much about Kakihari (but you should see the guy's tvtropes page; part of me is annoyed that even minor NJPW guys have filled out pages and no one from CMLL has anything but Mistico, but I cannot let that annoy me); he's a former NJPW/UWF guy who had to retire due to a neck injury. My understanding is that this was a reunion show and this was a sparring match for the main. He gives Fujiwara everything and I'm hugely sympathetic. It actually takes a certain level of skill to walk that tightrope. He sells emotively for him, has the crowd behind him the whole time and never comes off as a loser or a quitter or someone who was giving his opponent everything. It's probably exactly what I'd do if I was him, had a bad neck, and wanted to honor Fujiwara. There is a strong sense of reverence all around, even as he's letting Fujiwara do comedy fake smoking spots. I half wonder if they couldn't have given him one moment, one tap, one escape, one something, but that probably would have been worse than nothing at all. There was an overall effect here that would have been shattered. As for the mechanics, it was fun to see Fujiwara escape. I especially loved the small stuff, when he'd just focus on the tiniest bodypart as opposed to big sweeping counters. This was fun. shodate, have you seen the recently unearthed NJPW fancam of a very different fujiwara sparring session?

It feels a little bit win-win to me. Either Lashley gets over like they want and is a legit main event star for the next few years or we get a Batista situation where his presence actually makes the fans get more behind Braun out of resentment (at which point you can turn Lashley heel anyway)

It's been ages since I've seen this but I'm watching again now. It was much more even in the first half than I remembered. What I really love is how Larry goes for what works early on a second time (the hip toss, the shoulder block) and when they get reversed, that's when he really starts to get frustrated. When you factor in the differences in holds (Larry can't keep a hold on but Bruno just lets him out, including from the bear hug), and how the final payoff isn't just Larry blindsiding Bruno, but him doing it as Bruno holds the ropes open for him, you really do get one of the best matches-as-angles in wrestling history. Also, Vince ending the show looking like he's about to puke from nervousness is an amazing touch.

Pete and I are heartbroken.

Who do you rate?

Will catch this tomorrow. In the meantime, here's one back for you if you have time, in three parts:

It is, I think, kind of a common problem with a certain kind of young wrestler. Stringing move after move together with a kind of "Look at me! Look how many moves I know!" type of attitude rather than trying to tell any kind of coherent story or develop dramatic tension or whatever. It not just jumpy flippy guys who are spot monkeys. Hopefully they'll grow out of it eventually. One of my favorite talking points over the years is how wrestling is symbolic and everything a wrestler chooses to do, be it matwork, a garbage spot, a high spot, a strike, or even just playing to the crowd, is just a tool, and it's all about how the tools are used (and to a lesser degree how they're executed). The tools, in and of themselves, are not necessarily better or worse, though they may lean more towards your preference or may signify a trend of specific-tools-being-used-better-than-others-historically. I feel like it's never gotten all that much traction.

The bigger question is "Who was a better WWE TV Champion: Matt Hardy or Christian?"

I came in here because I'm going to watch all the Casas in Monterrey in 00-01 and I come right smack into OJ making comments. He definitely wasn't the focus of this match. There were some fun moments with Bucanero (including Bucanero slapping on the Scorpion as a FU) but not enough to really chew on. He was mostly on the outside for the first chunk of the match. That said, I don't know if I agree. I thought the stuff he did hyping the crowd up for Porky's big corner charge actually added a lot (pretty much the only build/payoff in the whole match) and no one could do that quite like Casas. Plus he locked in an Anaconda Vice to help distract the refs for the finish, which I've never seen him do before (he probably has but I've never seen it; there's one thing every match). I actually really enjoyed the low blow sequence on Shocker (who was exceptional at stooging here, even if we didn't get enough of it). I get that I'm his target audience and the things I enjoy aren't the same as the things that OJ enjoy, but Casas still looked great to me here. Maybe not top 10 in Mexico for the year great, but he still stood out, even in a match where he wasn't at all the focus. Half speed Casas is still one of the best wrestlers ever. I'm not 100% sure what the focus was. The camerawork was a little crazy to begin but everything came into focus with bloody Niebla (he and Scorpio making each other bleed was the heart of the match). The rudo beatdown was fine to start. The tecnico comeback had a pretty dull transition. There's no build and payoff here but there is enough fun stuff. Porky seemed far less mobile than he'd be ten years later which was weird. So it was your mix of bloody brawling and straight out comedy. My favorite part was Zumbido (who is the perfect level of scummy for this setting) being knocked into the crowd and some old lady standing up to shove him. I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't more coherence than I'm giving this credit for, as I watched it out of context, but I didn't see it.

Will catch it on the commute tomorrow. Looking forward to it even though I'm wishing it was for less sad reasons.

Not to sugarcoat the current situation but I tend to like 76-78 Brody, before the face turn.

Ive never actually read the Moolah bio. Its years before theyre going to toss that on the website.