Timbo Slice

I'm really wavering on whether or not I renew. There's some neat stuff from time to time and NXT is alright, but I'm not sure I'd miss anything until stuff like Mid-South, JCP and other WCW stuff start getting put on there. And I'm not sure that's gonna happen anytime soon.

Nak/Okada has been building for years. They really haven't faced each other that much. It's a good matchup. Nak should go over.

A lot of people jumping on the G1 bandwagon as far as this being the best tournament ever lack the perspective to call it that. I don't like the sweeping generalizations that come with it basically boiling down to, "We don't like what WWE is doing, so because this is the best alternative we have, this is the best thing ever." And while that statement does look to be a bit ironic, that's why people are praising this more than any other reason right now. No comparisons, no substance, no baseline of what makes something great. Just that it's great. And continues to be great. I haven't been able to watch that much due to work, but nothing's jumping out at me as something where it's obviously better than some of the stuff I've seen WWE do this year. I'm not sure I've even seen a match on here better than Hero/Styles from ROH in March. Instead, the praise is boiling down to what I said above.

I don't even think it's a different taste for different times. This idea that wrestling has to "evolve" (Ha.) to be all about highspots doesn't work if the highspots don't mean anything. As has been repeated ad nauseum, a fucking fireman's carry has been the most over finisher for more than a decade in the WWE. In Japan, a clothesline is considered a move of death. In Mexico, a tombstone is basically outlawed. It's never, ever solely been about physicality. It's about getting the crowd to buy into whatever you do. That was Dylan's point. It can be both, sure, but the idea of hard-hitting wrestling got fetishized with the idea of "American Strong Style" in the last decade as indy guys aped stuff from Japan and started stiffing each other in small arenas to get over. That's not conducive to the success of a product over the long-term.

God, I really want to call Dory "Dr. Strangelove" now because of the title to this thread.

Really need to see that cage match. Heard great things about it. Hokuto and a cage just seem like a natural fit, and Nakano is great, too. Still remember the 11/90 cage match she had with Aja which was top notch.

Shoutouts to everyone in this thread who made me able to spend more time with my family tonight instead of watching this PPV. Looks like they're going all in for a big SS to make people want to renew.

It's stemming from the number of surgeries he'll require. One exploratory already, but maybe two more needed. That's a lot for anyone, especially a pro wrestler.

Kobashi to me is really overrated. One of those "active" wrestlers that doesn't work as smart as people think he does. Tanahashi is the same way. If this board were more into joshi, Toyota would be right there. Vader as overrated is ridiculous. He might be talked about too much, but that doesn't make him overrated. Misawa is the same way. Taue is forever underrated. Also, after watching the Warrior DVD, I'm not about to call him underrated because that would make him out to be way better than he actually is, but I actually enjoyed a lot of what was on there, even if it was hit or miss. He's a good big match wrestler at the very least.

Actually, I saw Matt in a pretty bad match a few weeks ago at an APW show here in Daly City. Really paint by the numbers type stuff except for a couple of spots where he tried to get the crowd to count along and it didn't go well. That, plus the horrible Chris Hero/Jeckels match hadn't really left my mind at that point.

Did Kawada ever go to Stu when he was in Canada?

I think there's just a wide inability to figure out how to distribute content amongst the Network people. Like they didn't audit what they had and figure out a schedule.

Yeah, that's the other big thing against Trips: He had the undying approval of Vince behind him and still did crappy. The idea of really getting behind someone who doesn't get the support he thinks he deserves is the ultimate egotistical move when they don't want to admit they're wrong. Because when nobody can tell you that, who are you going to believe?

Strong Style makes me want to punch a wall whenever I hear it. Especially when you hear "American Strong Style."

Manami/Kyoko 5/7/95. Still don't know why that match length happened to this day.

The AJW announcer from the 80's and 90's always had a weird tone to how he announced the names. Very understated, very slow...it was funny to hear. GMC was always great, and Finkel gets better every year goes by with Chimmel, Lillian and especially Justin Roberts doing the intros. It's as if WWE doesn't really care that none of those three can actually give a match a big time feel.

Aja as monster heel might be the greatest ever. From a work standpoint, Bull might have the higher volume, though, thanks to her run from 1990-1994.

I was just coming in here to type Funk because if you think "great" angles, I'm not sure you have anyone with more high-end angles than him. Randy Savage is a big one thanks to his Memphis stuff, the manager angle that produced Miss Elizabeth, the Steamboat angle, the Mega-Powers stuff, Jake Roberts, the Warrior retirement feud, Flair...just a lot of top notch stuff. The Freebirds come to mind, as well, thanks to them traveling all over, and why they probably don't have anything as memorable as other wrestlers great angles, they sure do have the quantity to be a part of the discussion.

That's the thing. She doesn't really have the stuff to get over with the bigger crowds. It just never took off.

Emma has been released per Naylor on Facebook.

Current Favorite Wrestler To Watch: Dean Ambrose. Just on another level entirely. Really seems like the guy WWE doesn't want to break out out of The Shield, but is going to anyway just because he has a personality that is as magnetic as anyone has seen come through in a long time. Last Fun Match You Saw: GAB '88 had the awesome Midnights/Fantastics US Tag Team Title match. Also had a really fun Tully/Arn vs. Sting/Nikita World Tag team title match, as well. Wrestler You Want To See More Of: I want to go back and revisit some of Moxley's stuff now, actually. Last Live Show Attended: A local APW show in San Francisco featuring Chris Hero, Matt Striker and Matt Hardy. Reby Sky was there, too, I guess. Match You Are Looking Forward To Watching Soon The Most: Whenever they finally run Cesaro/Lesnar. Cesaro throwing around Lesnar is going to be incredible. Also, if Taker ever got healthy enough to go up against Bray Wyatt, I'm all about it. Last Fun Interview/Promo You Saw: Anything Ambrose has done in a while. Last Interesting Thing You Read About Wrestling: That WWE has to cut back on production costs. Also, anything Shoemaker has written over the last six months. (I have to say that's sarcasm lest someone actually believes me.) Last Worthwhile Wrestling Podcast You Heard: SC return call/Wrestling Culture return show. Most Fun You've Had Watching Wrestling Lately: Going through the Best of ECW set. Just burning through it right now. 1996 ECW has become one of my favorite eras of wrestling ever because of it and made me do a complete 180 on Shane Douglas as a worker. Absolutely top notch during this time.

DIPSET DIPSET.

Hero didn't look that soggy when I saw him a couple weeks ago. Not that noticeably so, actually.

I know people love the Wyatt's normal music, but I think the new theme is fucking kickass.

Baba never saw himself as a special attraction wrestler, but rather the ace of his promotion, which made it kind of weird when you see him and he's working straight-up matches with Beyer and Billy and what have you. In his heyday, though, Baba was truly one of the best workers of his era. Andre was always the special attraction type and was rarely in a straight up match where his wrestling skill was front and center, and his match style to me was limited in that standpoint. That being said? Can't think of a better attraction-style match guy than him, bar none. Absolutely exceptional. When he was in a big match, he knew how to make it seem like a big-time spectacle. What made Vader great was that he'd have matches with these big guys where he'd go 50/50, but then against the smaller guys, he'd be willing to give them a lot to show he was fallible. He's an underrated seller and knew his times for control and cutoffs. His unique offense definitely stood out, but I just remember him making guys like Sting and Dustin look absolutely king-sized by playing to their strengths and letting them look like a million bucks.