World's Worst Man

No kidding. Some guy at TSM wrote a big post basically saying that we shouldn't blame Benoit, but rather we should blame the WWE and Benoit's friends for doing nothing to help him. It's just mind-boggling.

Looks like the guy is in denial over a double homicide because of his fanaticism towards a pro-wrestler. Kind of sad really.

Given that Benoit was involved with domestic abuse in the past, this may not be a case of a "good guy" developing mental illness which leads to a horrible crime. It could be that he was always a violent person on account of the heavy steroid usage (or even without the steroids, who knows), which paints the entire situation differently than if it was caused by dementia relating to head trauma. I'd be interested in hearing if Benoit had any previous domestic abuse issues before the 2003 situation.

Not surprising. People will be in denial until it's 100% confirmed, rather than 99%. Even then, I'm sure some will grasp at hope. http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/fay...0625benoit.html Apparently the Benoit household has had problems with domestic abuse. I was surprised to see this now, because I don't remember hearing about it before.

An utter tragedy. This is the most surreal death of them all, just due to the bizarre and mysterious circumstance surrounding it. Awful, awful news.

Wade Keller taking credit for the decision to name the cruiserweight division is gold. Actually, this entire thread is gold.

From what I've seen recently (which isn't much), Cena's execution seems to be hit or miss, which I suppose is better than the 100% miss he used to be. Like, I thought it was fine in his WM match with HBK, but I've seen TV matches where it still looks like he couldn't hurt a newborn infant. He doesn't have to be stiffing his opponents, but it's hard to suspend disbelief when he's basically feathering guys to the mat with slams, or barely touching them with his arm on clotheslines. Maybe I have odd standards, but I would say that competently executing maneuvers is part of being a good worker. That means making the moves look like they hurt, or at the very least making sure they don't look completely preposterous. I wouldn't call Cena a good worker, much less the best in the world, until that part of his game becomes consistently solid.

I can't help thinking that this would have been better if Chigusa had actually got some offense in, and if Matsumoto had actually sold at all. This was essentially a one-sided slaughter, and while Chigusa was incredible in her selling, the weapon usage was repetitive and the finish wasn't timed well, nor did it seem like enough was done to warrant a KO. And as mentioned, the main source of drama in these kind of matches (the comebacks) were sorely lacking. I'm more of a fan of the Stan Hansen style slugfest brawls, rather than repetitive weapon shots + blood stuff, but even so, I don't think this match really pulled it off particularly well.

Markoff was the shits for the first ten minutes or so. His offense appeared loose, sloppy and ineffective. His selling was uninspired and lazy. For whatever reason, this all changed around the halfway mark, when he started going to town on Inoki with heel tactics and roughhousing, which is when the match really took off. Inoki was good throughout, selling well, even though it initially didn't look like he was taking much of a beating. Late in the match is where he really shone, as he was the victim of Markoff's aforementioned onslaught, so his selling fit in a lot better to what was going on. His late match comebacks were excellent, as he never really blew off the fact that he was bloodied and hurt, which gave the match a nice dramatic effect. The match ended up being ok, which is more than I expected after the first few minutes. Inoki was impressive throughout, and Markoff managed to start working hard when the match needed it the most.

Small groups are generally preferable on the internet, as it cuts down on the silliness. Shit disturbers and douchebags stick out like a sore thumb and can be culled accordingly. It's better than dealing with the smarmy, pretentious and condescending nonsense that seems to plague the bigger wrestling forums. I guess some people crave the drama, even though it's about pro-wrestling. It's better to avoid that stuff altogether, and places like this are a good refuge from it.

I liked how they worked in all of the flash pins in this match. While the Kid started out strong, eventually it seemed like his plan was to just kind of hang around and try to get another fluke win. It's a shame that the flash near fall after the restart happened during the break, because it looked like it would have been the best of the match. I was also disappointed that they didn't work in a small package reversal of the sharpshooter, as it would have been a nice last ditch effort from the Kid to win the match, and probably would have gotten a fair bit of heat. I felt that the finish ended up being a little flat instead. In any case, it was a solid match that did a good job of accurately portraying each guy's character. The 1-2-3 Kid as the young, upstart, over-achieving underdog and Bret Hart as the classy, honorable champ.

This sounds like something that could get me back into the wrestling loop. I'd be up for it.

Pretty good. I like the historical background that is provided for the news stories.

I don't think there was any sort of specific storyline involving KENTA and Marufuji. I believe they just split the team up with no hard feelings or anything. KENTA is just a prick who tries to beat the shit out of his opponent, regardless of who it is. Whether it's his former partner (Marufuji) or his former teacher (Kobashi), it doesn't seem to matter.

Kobashi vs.Kenta is still really good the second time through. KENTA is just such a little prick in this, as he taunts Kobashi throughout the match with disrespectful little kicks, slaps and gestures. Kobashi brings the anger in response to all of this with some extra nasty looking stuff, like a big downwards chop right to KENTA's nose. KENTA busts out some nice arm work after Kobashi is 'injured' after an apron side 'rana, and Kobashi does a pretty good job of selling it, even after it's done being worked on. Despite doing some pretty neat reversals and comeback segments, very little crowd heat is sustained. I tried to ignore it, because what the wrestlers were doing was still great, but it might bother some people. KENTA is really awesome in matches that don't go too long. His prick character against the veterans always makes for good stuff, and him and Kobashi always seem to mesh well together. Not really an elite match, but a damn fine encounter nonetheless.

I think the booking of Misawa-Morishima was terrible in what was otherwise a pretty good match. The three backdrops were just overkill, and the third one really should have ended the match (just listen to the crowd). Instead, it kind of killed the move. Misawa is sure great at playing the "old guy who takes a gigantic beating" though. Morishima obviously brings the firepower, but Misawa absorbs it in a way to almost draw pity as he drags himself around the ring with a glassy look in his eyes. Decent finish, with Morishima looking like a tough fucker in the loss. So ultimately I think the wrong guy won in the context of the match they wrestled, even if it wasn't necessarily the wrong result in the big picture.

HBK vs. Cena and Batista vs. Taker were both great in spots, but had long stretches of crap. In the case of the latter, the start and finishing runs were both good, but the middle portions were very dull. The former was bordering on terrible at various moments early on (both guys looking lost, awkward inactive moments, just very "fractured" work), but had a fantastic stretch run. Both decent matches, so along with a fun MITB match, it made for a passable show. Just wasn't anything spectacular I don't think.

I can see where you're coming from. From my point of view, though, the worst kind of mindset by far is the one that can only appreciate one kind of wrestling. I find it fully wrong-headed if someone who only enjoys highspots hates on anything and everything that isn't packed full of hugely exciting offense. It also bugs me someone who can only get into slow building old school face vs. heel matches where the heel beats the baby down, only to lose the advantage due to hubris, and then the good guy get his revenge and the reviewer in question feels the need to bitch every time a match doesn't follow that formula. There are people online who love 1990s AJPW King's Road Style so very much that they judge every match in terms of how it compares to that style. I can't get behind that, either. There are so many different kinds of great wrestling. The reviewers that I enjoy reading are almost always the ones who can see what's great about a bunch of different styles. The same is true, in my way of looking at things, of music, movie, or video game critics. To hell with film geeks who only give love to obscure foreign films with complex plots and to hell with mouth-breathing dolts who hate anything that doesn't define its conflict with a car chase. They are both wrong. Similarly, to hell with wrestling geeks who can only praise something if most of the other geeks haven't seen it yet, and to hell with people who only watch what's on free TV but think that they are pro wrestling experts. Both are idiots. Oh I agree. There are different styles of wrestling, and not all of them are going to have the same characteristics. A brawl isn't going to contain lots of moves, a king's road match isn't going to have a good vs. evil story, etc etc. If someone only digs a certain style, that's fine, as long as they're not going to dismiss matches as being bad just because they aren't in that style. If they have a problem with how the match was done in the context of the wrestling style, that's a different story. I think that all wrestling shares some common traits, but the specifics can change from style to style.

In certain styles, you could say a lot of the early stuff is done to build the match rather than get an immediate reaction. It's still working toward the goal of popping the crowd though. But I'll also say that if a reviewer doesn't enjoy what the wrestlers are doing to gain that reaction, there's nothing anyone can say or do to change that opinion. Hogan's nonsense got a reaction from the crowd, but I thought it sucked. Misawa and Kobashi no-selling each other's offense pops the crowd, and I think that sucks. Not that I'm defending the OP or anything, but I just don't like the "if it got a reaction, you have to think it's good" mindset.

Sorry when has Takayama ever been in shape? From the matches I've seen he looks as good as he was before he got injured. His ring rust is pretty much gone and he's always had that spare tire. Kensuke is a great choice to be champion of any fed right now but it's more likely he's going to take the Triple Crown than the GHC title. I meant cardio wise. I don't expect him to drop his gut, but he doesn't seem to have the stamina necessary to work big singles matches yet.

They need to make sure Misawa isn't going to die first. But seriously, I'd put my money on Kobashi taking the title if he's going to be returning anytime soon, and then he'll be the one to drop the title to Morishima (if he recovers from that debacle last night). If Kobashi doesn't come back soon, then who knows? Takayama would be a good pick once he whips himself into shape. Outside of that, I have no clue other than maybe someone like Kensuke, who would open up some interesting defences. At the end of the day, I think NOAH is in big trouble.