Timbo Slice

That's definitely a thing.

George Scott, yeah. Don't know why I thought Young. I was talking more from NOAH's beginning to the Dome Shows. I thought that was still all Misawa at that point.

Do Don Owen or George Young make the list? What about Misawa with NOAH's rise? The Matsunaga Brothers with AJW?

Shayna was the MVP of the tourney, and I'm not a fan of the booking dictating her loss so that they had a reason for Sane to debut on NXT. Her winning and calling out the Four Horsewomen would've been a bigger deal. Sane's excitement was fun, but it did take away from some points in the match that it seemed Shayna was much more interested in making worthwhile. Her facials were terrific, as were her little nuances throughout. She'll be two years in as a pro in two weeks. Very few have been as good as her in their first two years ever.

Last four episodes had some really good matches on it, but the commentary remained absolutely terrible. An amazing production mess up from start to finish.

They didn't expect Jazzy to get over to the degree she did in that first match. It was done to make Kimber take down a bigger opponent, and it was basically like the Tessa matchup with Kairi, where they like both of them but want to push who they're gonna push in the tourney. Also, Jazzy is 35, and while she'll get a look, there's a lot more young talent here in the tourney that they'll have a priority on. The commentary is definitely bad. JR was slow on the uptick for most of the matches unless the action picked up, and people who were calling for Prazak to be a part of it to at least be the Mike Tenay of the team would have added something to it. Would have let everyone do better work. That's just a broadcaster being a nitpicker, though.

Well shit, now I can't wait to watch this because this sounds exactly like the Jake Lee match from Day 1 of the Champion Carnival.

I'm gonna go YES on Omega/Okada II, as I liked it more than the Dome match because of the post towel antics. I didn't really get everything beforehand because i don't think Okada was really THAT dominant until he hit the elbow drop, but his near-term selling was brilliant here. I don't know if they were playing off him having matches with guys like Shibata and Fale beforehand and he had been hit with big blows so Omega was trying to do exactly that, but if what I inferred was true, he played Omega's big shots off big time. He was much better here than he was at the Dome, where it was such a great Omega performance he got overshadowed. Logic says Omega can take the belt in the third match, but I also think New York comes calling by 1/4.

WWE John Cena vs AJ Styles vs Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt vs Baron Corbin vs The Miz (Elimination Chamber 2/12) I'll go YES here because of the stretch run, which is AJ Styles becoming the master of a match in his debut match. It was also about as clear a message you could possibly send that Bray Wyatt was The Man here, with him pinning both Cena and Styles to end it. The Miz/Cena interactions here were tremendous and paid off well for the showdown at WM. John Cena vs AJ Styles (Royal Rumble 1/29) || 3 yes || 0 no || Easy YES and probably a Top 5 match this year. Just a bomb throwing extravaganza with a genius and decisive finish. Styles was absolutely incredible here, and Cena adds another notch to his big match belt. Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar (Wrestlemania 4/2) || 3 yes || 0 no || Best sub-6 minute match ever. Easy YES. A total of four moves done in this match, all of them ruled. Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman (Payback 4/30) || 4 yes || 0 no || Another easy YES and all the credit in the world to both guys for going so far out of their way to just destroy each other. Just an epic brawl that makes me want to see these guys match up for the rest of their careers. WWE NXT Shinsuke Nakamura vs Bobby Roode (Takeover 1/28) || 3 yes || 1 no || ​Going YES here, but it's on the lower end of the spectrum. Liked the first match better, and while I do like how Roode crafts finishes, felt like there could have been more here. This is probably the match that made me think Nak was getting bored with NXT and that he knew his time getting called up to the main roster was nigh. #DIY vs. The Revival vs. Authors of Pain (4/1) || 3 yes || 1 no || YES, and although I know people wished it was AOP vs. DIY at the end, giving the Revival one last shot to try and take down the new guys was a good booking move. Also loved them subtweeting the Young Bucks here with their attire. DIY and Revival working together out of mutual respect was great, and them doing each others finishers trying to get AOP out of the match was one of my favorite moments of the year. Tyler Bate vs. Pete Dunne (Takeover Chicago 5/20) || 2 yes || 0 no || YES. I'm pretty sure this is my MOTY right now because they took what you would think is an indy epic and added some incredible selling and pacing down the stretch. Every big move was a big deal here, and both men sold like their lives depended on it. The finish was fantastic, super simple and super believable in the grand scheme of things, and they better do the rubber match at Brooklyn. The Authors of Pain vs. #DIY (Takeover Chicago 5/20) || 1 yes || 0 no || YES. AOP with their best performance here, and DIY died for our sins on that double splash. Johnny Wrestling was on another level here. Ciampa is incredibly underrated and gets to be more nuanced alongside Johnny, and got some good chances here to shine. Post-match was heart-wrenching and invigorating all at the same time. When it comes time for them to lock up, it's going to be nuts. WWE UK Pete Dunne vs Tyler Bate (1/15) || 7 yes || 0 no || Easy YES where they used the tournament stip to their advantage and passed off Bate as on the level as Dunne, who was the de facto favorite. Really tremendous story here with the arm, although I do wish that Dunne worked it more into his finishing run. Bate's selling was tremendous, and it was truly a shocker that he won here. Pete Dunne vs Mark Andrews (1/15) || 4 yes || 2 no || ​YES, and I think people are throwing NO's up on this because in hindsight it wasn't thought of as high as the final, but watching it live, I wondered if there was going to be another match anywhere close to this in the tourney. I'm not the biggest fan of the Stundog Millionaire normally, but it works with guys who use vertical suplex style moves and it countering the X-Plex was a legit pop for me. Good stuff. US indy Trevor Lee vs. Chip Day (CWF Mid-Atlantic 3/25) || 3 yes || 0 no || =3 YES, and it's between this and Dunne/Bate II for MOTY for me so far. A sensational performance from Day, and I want to see Trevor Lee vs. virtually damn near anyone at this point. Stretch run was my favorite of the year until Dunne/Bate II. NJPW Katsuyori Shibata vs Hirooki Goto (1/4) || 6 yes || 2 no || A slight YES here because it was cool to see these guys square off and give Shibata another big stage. It was as stiff as you'd think it would be. Tetsuya Naito vs Hiroshi Tanahashi ( 1/4) || 9 yes || 0 no || YES. Naito's best performance I've ever seen. He'll take it easy on occasion, but he shined here against Tanahashi, who wanted to show he could still go. Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega (1/4) || 10 yes || 3 no || YES, but not in a MOTY way. It was epic, it had some great moments to it, the but the logic never really hit with me, especially when Okada looked like he was really finally taking control. Omega's performance was electric, but they could have easily shaved 10 off this and it would have been better off. Also firmly in the Dragon Suplex Should Have Been Saved For A Finish camp. Hiromu Takahashi vs Dragon Lee (2/11) || 3 yes || 0 no || YES. Good lord, guys. I mean, this might be the 6th or 7th best matchup from these guys, but they're so incredible together it's tough to not enjoy when they bring it on a big stage. Kazuchika Okada vs. Katsuyori Shibata (NJPW Sakura Genesis 4/9/) || 6 yes || 0 no || NO. Don't care how epic you make the stretch run if that headbutt happens. Hard pass.

Nominating Shuji Ishikawa vs. Kento Miyadera for the Triple Crown from 5/21. An absolutely tremendous stretch run and a capper for a hell of a run for Big Shuji, who has emerged as 2017's most unlikely top hand you'll see. Kento took a hellacious beating and dished it right back, but Ishikawa was having none of it. Better if you see some of Shuji's Champions Carnival work beforehand. Nominating Kento vs. Jake Lee from Day 1 of the Champions Carnival, 4/15. Was there live for this and it was extremely good, with Jake Lee looking like a future world beater. Really pushed Jake giving his teammate a run for his money, and his near fall off the backdrop had me off my feet. Kento looked and performed like a true ace here.

The first 10 minutes were really fun and then they started going all spotty down the stretch and they lost me. The arm never came into play again once they started throwing bombs. Yeah, the arm was weak for the lariat, but it would have been better had he not hit it at all, to be honest.

It slipped my mind that you were living in Tokyo! I'd recommend it for sure. Really neat experience.

Couple things on this. First, a podcast I did with Mark Coale on The Winter Palace talking about my trip to Japan and the wrestling stuff I did. https://winterpalacepodcast.squarespace.com/podcast/2017/4/26/episode-sixty-dangerous-va-k-tion Second, I wrote an article about it for Place2BeNation. http://placetobenation.com/checking-off-the-puroresu-bucket-list-tims-trip-to-tokyo/ Hope you guys enjoy!

Excited for the next run for NXT thanks to Drew, Ohno, a Biff push likely, return of Itami, and SOMEONE beating Asuka. Tag team division, which was once a stalwart, seems light right now. Heavy Machinery are interesting but not quite to that level yet. I'm all in on Aleister Black. He has the chance to be something truly special with that setup and he brings something completely unique to the table. That has some money potential. Ohno is going to be an interesting part in all this: He's obviously the workhorse type that can fit with everyone, but they can't just have him be the "Guy Who Has Great Matches With Everyone." He needs something a bit more and I hope they find it with him in the next year.

Orton seems to be one of those guys other wrestlers love for his look, pedigree, and family lineage, but he really has been playing the same guy for a long time. Interestingly enough, I think a lot of people liked the pairing with Wyatt because it was a bit of a departure from the norm for both guys, and I was definitely invested in the storyline. It just ended with a bit of a thud, and now it looks like it really is just fizzling away after the fact. Orton as the champion on SD seems like a no-win proposition considering AJ is bound for the US feud with Owens. Him and Corbin doesn't do it for me on a storyline level, either. The main issue is that he really should have been an Arn Anderson type his entire career. He's a great supporting player, but him as a lead guy just never stuck.

I would have hoped he came back as Hero, but oh well. I don't think it's that big of a deal, to be honest. NXT was alright this week. Tyler Bate match was the highlight. He really does have a great, unique presence about him for a 5-8, 175 pound 19-year-old.

I need to get back to posting more regularly on here because my sanity has been absolutely thrown asunder lately. So here are my Rumble thoughts: -Opener was fine. A bit surprised that they had the finish like that but it was at least unique, and Charlotte being pushed as a heel to the extent she is makes me think the only person left to take her down would be Asuka, which, if you asked me a year ago was the plan, I would have laughed in your face. Also, Brandon Howard saw that Sasha was the #2 female search for merch on WWE.com behind the Bellas, which makes me think if they think she can turn heel, a Reigns turn could also be in the cards. Plus, turning Sasha now would just be weird. -REALLY liked the Universal title match, especially with Owens going all out to bump like a crazy person (he did it in the Ambrose match last year too) and him really selling the Reigns comebacks well. Liked the finish because Braun rules and it also gives way to the idea that Braun could have an easier time with Owens than Reigns, which might be what his idea is here. Open-ended booking again. -Cruiserweight title match had issues getting sustained heat but the big moments were really good, and giving Neville the belt for a while so they can build someone else up to his level is smart. I could see it being Bate or even Dunne if they want once they run the UK gamut, but I think it'll be someone more along the lines of Cedrick (if they ever get around to pushing him) or Gallagher. -Cena/Styles was terrific, as they decided to just go for broke basically from the start and ran the Omega/Okada match extended stretch run instead of putting a bunch of perfunctory stuff up front. The Super AA kickout popped the hell out of me, and the finality of the finish was great. I would have loved to see the Figure Four finish even if it was a bit too much on the nose. -Great Rumble, which gave people what they wanted in some ways and with the Orton win, more open-ended booking. I can't see them doing Orton/Cena, but I could see something like Bray winning the Elimination Chamber with Orton's "help" to set that up and finish that up. Really backloaded Rumble, which meant early on until Braun showed up it was a bit slow, and the middle part was a lot of riff-raff, too. But the last part was really well done, and Brock doing good business again for Goldberg is seriously incredible to see. Corbin eliminating Braun is also sneaky good booking, too. Another one of those shows that WWE (Mostly SD Live) has basically perfected over the last year, with good balance in the booking and work while really understanding what it takes to build convincing stories AND keep a mystery going. Enjoyed this immensely.

This is correct.

So I'm going the other way and think this is better than the first match based solely on Jaguar's performance here. When she's in control, it's one of the best things ever, just absolutely systematically going after Lioness in a way that's rare for the timeframe. The stretch run was crazy, I thought the selling was great, and the opportunism of Jaguar winning right away based on the Lioness mistake while playing up the leg work was perfect. The first match is one of the best 50/50 matches I've ever seen, really built well, but the finish has always fallen flat with me because I really think they should have put Chig over leading up to the hair match with Dump six days later to have her go in strong. It's definitely a bit of nitpick regardless of where you fall because those two matches back to back is one of the best 1-2 punches ever, and even 30 years later, it's still going strong.

I actually think that move was made more out of necessity than many think, especially with Naito floundering a bit before his Mexico excursion. People seem to forget that. This really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone on the WWE front. UK is just the beginning of efforts like this. At some point, they'll come for Mexico and Japan and it'll be a similar scenario. They don't mind throwing around the money right now.

Yeah, the talking point on Kandori always was that she was tough to work with, didn't work as hard as the other person in the match, etc. Couldn't have been further from the truth.

Kobashi/Honda is the great Honda showcase match AND the great Kobashi GHC title match. Causal, not correlation, as Kobashi's GHC title matches weren't all great. The one thing Kobashi did have was the glue to have matches with multiple guys that were at least compelling. The Takayama and Minoru title defenses stand out as Kobashi working "their" match while making sure the other guy forced him out of what had become the norm in his title defenses. That norm started with the Honda match, coincidentally, but it got repetitive over time to an extent. I actually would love to hear Parv's views on Kobashi/Ogawa from November 2003, which is worked in a way I think he'd enjoy. And considering he didn't like the Joe/Styles pairing, might as well see what he thinks of Joe/Kobashi.

I just...well, just take a look at this damn thing: I don't even know where to start.

LOVE this match. Nakano as grumpy guy thinking Tamura is beneath him but Tamura thinks he's still got the technical skills to hang makes this for me. Young, fiery Tamura is the Tamura more people need to check out.