Timbo Slice

He's the most polarizing guy in the field for me. When I was a kid, him and Lyger absolutely mystified me, and then later on, seeing him make his comeback in 2001 was the craziest thing ever. But man he was a part of some shit stuff, too. Really tough to judge.

If there's a Part 2 of this, count me in for hoping it's another 3 hour show. That timeframe had so much going on that breaking it down would be incredible, and I don't think Naylor was joking when he said they could talk for 12 hours about it. Another Bay Area note: Around the same time APW was coming up, Morgan and Modest broke off to form Pro Wrestling Iron after they had their run in NOAH. Had a working agreement with bringing in NOAH talent to some pretty interesting spots, a lot like Hash in the garage. Misawa came out for a couple shows, and EricR has a crazy story about going to one of their shows, but that's up to him to tell it. They ran the CLOVERDALE CITRUS FAIR, which was incredible to me. The GHC Jr. Heavyweight title was defended in a city whose population at the time was smaller than the Budokan.

As someone watching Masahiro Tanaka currently trying to be the outlier for Tommy John surgery when his stuff has diminished while everyone and their brothers are getting the procedure done after tearing his UCL, I'm just a bit off about a guy who decided not to get a procedure done in favor of alternative processes that delay the inevitable because he wanted to get back in the ring quicker. Lost in all this seems to be the fact that there were plenty of questions about whether or not he was even ready to come back when he did. The issues that came up with his neck were all pointing towards getting the invasive surgery and being out for a year. But this talk about taking off the rest of the tour for precautionary reasons is most likely a cascade from that decision not to get surgery done (unless KrisZ's conspiracy theory is founded, in which case, WWE is just straight up stupid). If that's the case and his body's even more worse for wear than it was when the diagnosis was first done, that's a mistake. There's a calculated risk in making the decision and he's been a guy who's been open to trying a lot of different health options over the years, but this looks like it was a mistake.

This has been fantastic to listen to. Top notch stuff all around. And Wes is the man for loving the Young Bucks. They might be the act I love most in wrestling right now.

I have a feeling they were told it was strictly going to be NXT, meaning a drop in pay for them considering what ROH pays them. Even with the idea of growing the brand, the Briscoes make a lot, are still young, and if it does blow up, they can make the move whenever they want.

They already said he was going to be on SmackDown! almost exclusively because of him breaking down. He might be one of those cases where the injuries that have built up over the years just cascade quickly. The alternative process to his neck issue was a mistake. He hasn't tried to work a different style, really. I don't think he's done, but at this point, I can only see him breaking down, getting surgery for whatever, taking his time on the shelf, and then coming back as a special attraction-type guy.

I was gonna bring up the elephant in the room, too. No way Kawada should have jobbed on 6/3/94. Yeah, Misawa made Williams and then Kawada got his first title, but I think it would have worked out better that Kawada won, even if the Williams booking was straight out of the Hansen playbook and was the transition to him as the #1 gaijin. But you know better than I on the intricate details. I just figured it would have been better business for Kawada to be the guy to take the belt off Misawa. That was circumstance at the time, though. Lesnar wasn't really going to be winning much that year as there were still questions as to whether he was going to be around for the long haul since he signed only a one year contract. That was more precautionary than anything else. I'm trying to think of anything egregious off the top of my head, but it lends itself more to booking the guys that did go over (Sting at Starrcade '97, Austin going heel at WM 17). Here's an interesting one: I think Al Snow should have beaten Shane Douglas at Wrestlepalooza '98. Snow was the most over guy in the company at the time and it would have been great for him to win. Even with him going to the WWF, a win and then him dropping it back would have been great.

Parv, as you'll see, it's not even the best Hansen match ever a couple months later. And then it's for sure not the best Hansen match a couple months after that. In the grand scheme of 90's All Japan, it's in that second tier below the usual suspects. That being said, I don't think it's not as hyped so much as that there's a lot that comes later that seems to overshadow it. Watching in order like you are, that's definitely a sentiment I'm not surprised to see. It's a top flight match. It was ranked #15 in the DVDVR 90's poll, too. One of my favorite Hansen lariats ever in that match, and definitely one of my favorite Kawada sell jobs when he drops like a ton of bricks on that shot from Hansen about halfway through the match.

I think he can build a feud better than few guys in the history of wrestling. He can make you put down money for what he's about to sell you with the promos and angles alone. But I do feel underwhelmed when it comes to the payoffs with him. I don't think he'll be making it for me.

Automatically on my list from what I've seen, but I want to dive into the 80's stuff a bit more to see if he's as top tier as everyone is making him out to be. Offhand, he's definitely Top 50, but I wouldn't be surprised he gets up there into the Top 25 range when it's all said and done, maybe even Top 15.

Jungle Jack was a really good tag team at the time, but she didn't really have much on the singles end that stood out. At the time, she probably wasn't a Top 15 joshi worker. Not gonna make it.

I definitely liked what Savio brought in his WWF time, and the random PR stuff I've seen from him has been really good. He's underrated a lot due to exposure, but I think even Austin himself said that Savio was one of his favorite guys to work because it allowed him to show he could go, and Savio brought that out of him in their matches. He's on the outside looking in, but he's not a bad nomination at all.

Backlund's a guy I won't go back and rewatch that much because I don't think he had enough to have me coming back for more. I actually think of him in a similar vein as Dory, where he worked a deliberate pace mainly because that's what he was best at, but it wasn't something that worked well against a wide variety of opponents. But then at the same time, when he did have to change things up because of his opponents almost by necessity, there was some really interesting stuff that happened because of it. Call it a product of the MSG environment, but he's really tough for me to pinpoint on a list where I think the more I look over it, the more slam dunks I realize I'm going to have. Backlund not being one is going to hurt him on my list. Don't see him on it right now.

Dory's methodical pace does have its benefits, but I think where he loses points with me is that at a time where the longer matches were in vogue, there were a lot of his contemporaries working 30-60 minute matches that were a lot more compelling. Baba, Destroyer, Robinson, the list goes on. I don't think he's aged well, I think he's best in a tag environment as has previously been said, and he does have one of the greatest run-ins in wrestling history during that Hansen/Funk match when Hansen was trying to hang Terry with his bullrope and Dory makes the save looking like a middle-school principal. Won't be on my list, though.

Aesthetically pleasing, but I will say that in the last couple of years, he's honed a lot of things that made him someone I'd pass over. I think his stuff as Puma has been compelling to an extent, and he's incredibly charismatic live. At the WWN shows at WM weekend, he had a star quality about him that few others had (or wanted to have - Hi, Johnny Wrestling). I don't think I'd have him on the list, but there's a part of me that thinks the LU exposure is going to help him become a better overall worker. Then I see him do some of the same old stuff and I think differently. He's definitely impressive to watch, though. Not sure how much that's going to go in something like this, but he's not the worst selection on this list.

I thought I remember him getting some highlight matches in NJPW when MPro had the working agreement with them. I think he had a match with Koji that made a Schneider Comp (might have been someone else). He's one of the best trios workers ever, though. That's a really weird career foundation to have in a competition such as this, where there's so many more great singles workers, but it's an interesting thing to consider if you're looking for wrestlers who honed a specific style better than others.

If she were to make my ballot, she'd be at the bottom, as I have about 10 joshi workers off the top of my head I'd probably put above her, but at the same time, she's probably Aja's best opponent, she's very good at carrying other workers to dramatic matches that are actually enthralling (no joke, if you watched random joshi matches over the last decade based on hearsay, there's a good chance she was the reason why and you enjoyed yourself). She's another personal favorite of mine that I really want to put on my list, but I wouldn't be surprised if I take a look at who I'd consider and realize she's in the 125-150 range.

NXT focused a lot on Itami this week and even had a nice video package about his WrestleMania weekend. As much as seeing him get brought up this early means they might not have much for him now, It would be extremely weird if they didn't do something about this, especially considering they've protected him hitting the GTS about as well as anything in the company for a long time. I hope he gets an opportunity to shine at some point. Owens and Zayn is the main attraction but I'd like to see him get a shot.

I thought S.L.L. was going to beat me to it, but Meiko Satomura most definitely needs to be nominated via the 90's threads.

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Timothy Thatcher Last fun match you saw: Thatcher vs. Chris Hero from WWNLive Supershow on 3/28/15. Wrestler you want to see more of: Tommy End Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): WWNLive Supershow on 3/28/15 Match you're most looking forward to watching: Samoa Joe vs. Kyle O'Reilly on this week's ROH TV. Last fun interview/promo you saw: Rich Swann coming out to talk to the crowd before the WWN show because he was injured, complete with crowd sing along to "All Night Long." Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: The piece that was just posted by Justin Roberts on his time with Connor Michalek and how he feels WWE was using his memory for publicity. Roberts has caught grief from some folks (including me to an extent, but I'm also a broadcaster who is incredibly nitpicky about what I like in announcing) but I think it's some must-read stuff. Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: I've been a podcast fiend so I'm all over Brainbuster, Will's Wrestlemania week shows, The Pro-Wrestling Super Show with Grimmas, Wrestling Culture's latest on WWE Developmental history, the list goes on and on. Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: Live at that WWNLive show. The Hero/Thatcher match is in my Top 5 for best live matches seen, maybe Top 3. Favorite recent post on this board: Everything in the Brainbuster Episode 3 post. The trash talking has been tremendous. Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling): NXT showing they can draw in select shows on the road and talking about doing their quarterly specials on the road.

Picture of a future result of Brainbuster once I'm on there to take on Kelly: Eat, Sleep, Brainbuster, Repeat. Although that means you win 19 more times...which means I wouldn't beat you until Thanksgiving 2016. Hmmm....

Basics as I would see it: -Around 30 appearances a year, including four PPVs, with certain PPVs possibly being mandatory due to market size and extra appearances being paid in the $100-250k range. -Base salary close to $5 million per year as previously said. -Creative veto power, I'm guessing, probably with the ability to have preferences on who he'd like to work with. -I don't think the advertising stuff is as big a deal right now, but I imagine he's gonna take a bit more on merchandise than most guys on the roster. At this point, I'm not sure if that's a part of the $5 million per year, but it wouldn't be a surprise if it was extra. I actually think UFC would have offered him a similar base salary, but the incentives wouldn't have been worth it to him, I don't think. I think Vince offered him a 3 year, $12-$15 million base with a ton of creative freedom, big time overages on appearances and a bigger percentage on merchandise to offset his previous sponsor losses. Nothing UFC could offer outside of outright paying him $7.5 million a year to start would have done it, and there's a good chance if he had to do three years that Dana would have asked for at least 10 fights.

Matt D begging off Johnny's questions.

Supposed to be the least of the three Thatcher matches that weekend for Evolve/WWN. The Hero match was crazy good on Saturday and I really enjoyed the Tommy End match on Evolve 40, which I'm sure is coming next.

I actually thought the 1995 WCW one was Starrcade because when he changed the number of matches by the end, I thought he was trying to figure out if the Triangle Match was either one or two matches. But then the Joe Louis Arena hint would have been the dead giveaway, for sure. Kris tried to powerbomb Kidman. He should know better.