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Loss

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Everything posted by Loss

  1. Loss
    Yeah, in terms of everything looking good and having a nice variety of moves, Barry Windham is one of the first guys that comes to mind. He's not best, but I always liked Manny Fernandez's offense a lot. Buzz Sawyer too.
  2. Loss
    The Lawler getting over in different environments argument is interesting, because he seemed to struggle in Florida, Southwest, Georgia, PWUSA and Japan. He did get over in the WWF, AWA and Texas. I don't think that's a knock against him because he worked in the environment he needed to work, and I think stepping outside the goal posts of Memphis isn't really important to Lawler's case. Nothing he did outside of Memphis should make or break him. But I also wouldn't argue getting over in different environments as something that favors him, and certainly not more than a Funk, Flair, Hogan, Abdullah, Dusty, the Freebirds, the Road Warriors or even someone like Ted DiBiase, Kevin Sullivan or Dynamite Kid.
  3. Loss
    I didn't mention Perfect because by April it was clear he couldn't bring it anymore. I remember thinking it was funny how everyone was so excited about the Mr. Perfect comeback, but the Goldust comeback -- which was a shoulder shrugger -- had more legs. I also didn't mention Rey and Shawn since they came a little later in the year, but I do agree with your points. I think Smackdown should have been the tag team show. Jericho/Christian and Booker/Goldust should have been there too, with the tag titles presented as the #1 main event title, and the three teams in the Smackdown Six mixed in with the RAW teams. Those two teams felt like they should have been part of the Smackdown 6, but weren't.
  4. Loss

    Toshiaki Kawada

    Loss replied to Grimmas's topic in Nominees

    Hase was an interesting case in that he could step away for longer and longer periods of time and usually come back and look as great as he ever did (which was pretty great) anytime he wanted. I can't think of a period in his career where he'd be below Lex Luger on his best night. The Albright match is really good for Kawada showing us what an All Japan vs UWFI match would have looked like, and I thought he did a great job combining the house style with Albright's UWFI style. I actually think Takada managed to get something even better out of Albright once, but this match is still more impressive in many ways because it seemed more improbable. Kawada vs Akiyama from 7/93 is a match I'd recommend. Akiyama as we know was better than almost anyone has ever been at that experience level, but Kawada was still the one very much carrying that, and it's very good. As for other guys, I do think Kobashi was the best opponent for both Hansen and Doc. Misawa peaked higher with Taue one time, but the rest of the matches I'd put below Kawada's matches with Taue. I think Kobashi was better against Hase than Kawada, and just looking at the 1990s, I'd call Akiyama's best opponent Kobashi. Notice the name Kobashi keeps coming up. That's why I'd put him ahead of Kawada. I also think the Misawa-Kobashi series is more comparable to the Flair-Steamboat series than Misawa-Kawada.
  5. Loss

    Shinobu Kandori

    Loss replied to Grimmas's topic in Nominees

    I'll also add here that she had a singles match against Manami Toyota in 1998 that Childs loved, so ponder that one. I thought she was awesome in all of the matches she had with and against Megumi Kudo on Kudo's retirement tour in 1997. And I've liked the stuff I've seen from her when she was super young too. Kandori was pretty great. She had the sensibility more like a great men's wrestler than she did a great women's wrestler, and she might be the only one in the world of Joshi I'd say that about. That has nothing to do with the shoot-ish style she worked and more with her interpretation of psychology and build to big moments.
  6. Loss

    Dynamite Kansai

    Loss replied to Grimmas's topic in Nominees

    I'd put Dynamite Kansai above Aja Kong pretty easily. Would anyone else?
  7. Loss
    April 2002 is tough. Austin was falling apart, Hogan's steam was short-lived, Rock was leaving for Hollywood, Jericho had been killed off with an awful title run and the NWO had already run its course less than two months in. On the flip side, Brock and Eddy were coming in fresh, RVD was very over and Goldust had a better-than-expected comeback. It was also a unique month in that Hogan was so hot that HHH lost nearly all of his usual pull for a few weeks.
  8. Loss
    Yeah, Cena doesn't have to drop it. From what I've read, there is a contingency arguing that he doesn't have to, much like they weren't going to take the title off of Bryan last year when they thought he'd only be out for six weeks.
  9. Loss
    It was actually known at the time that Luger would be gone. Well, not known 100%, but he had checked out mentally and it was pretty obvious and he wasn't expected to be around over the long haul at all. Also, a fun fact: the entire Dangerous Alliance angle was originally offered to Jim Cornette, who turned it down. Much like the WWF wanted Cornette to come in with Flair and he turned that down too. I think it worked out better in both cases.
  10. Loss
    Verne Gagne, Buddy Rogers, Lou Thesz, Pat O'Connor, Gene Kiniski, Fritz Von Erich, Antonio Rocca, Rikidozan, Destroyer and others -- it seems like there's enough footage there to get a decent handle on them. If you are ranking them, who do you expect to make your list? If you aren't, is it just because you haven't seen stuff or because it's tough for you to watch footage that old? I don't think there's a right or wrong answer, but I'm curious. Some of those guys have plenty of footage in the 70s as well, but they seem to have more before that. One guy who specifically stands out like a sore thumb is Jim Londos. He was arguably a bigger star in his era than Hogan or Austin were in theirs and he looks great in all the footage that we do have of him. It would be sad if we're the ones carrying the torch at this point for this type of historical wrestling watching and he doesn't even get considered.
  11. Loss
    Lesson learned from the first day is to watch the matches in order of personal appeal instead of chronologically. I got through three matches yesterday, but hope to do more today.
  12. Loss
    I find the general aesthetic of IWE charming, and it’s definitely a company I am excited about exploring much more since so much of it seems to be uncharted waters. This wasn’t something I think I’ll remember but it was a good match with a nice layout, and they kept the action going very well. Rose and Quinn are really good working like an American heel team with the cutting the ring in half and all of that. Inoue and Hamaguchi are the home country babyfaces and have a good amount of charisma. Inoue in particular has some nice offensive flurries. I really liked his sentons. The match is less than 15 minutes, but is worked like something much bigger and longer. I think the reason it feels that way is that the first half of the match has the Japanese team in heavy peril and they are equally dominant for the last half to make up for it. Hamaguchi is good at coming in and hitting his spots, but from a wrestling perspective, Inoue carried this for his side and looked damn good doing it. I didn’t care for the finish because it didn’t seem like it was very earned, but the body of the match makes up for it. ***
  13. Loss
    Thus far, my favorite World of Sport stuff has been from the catchweights. They work a style that doesn’t seem even the slightest bit dated. Maybe not fully relevant in today’s landscape, but definitely not dated. Rocco takes most of this match – most of the time because he’s such a force of offense, but he also has some lucky breaks. The first time Grey manages a sustained comeback and is about to lock in a surfboard, the round ends and then Rocco continues his reign of dominance to start the next round. This pace is never really slow, but it does continue to get more frenetic the longer the match goes. This was building to an all-time classic and probably would have hit that level with ten more minutes, but this was still pretty great. ***3/4
  14. Loss
    And then he ends up facing people like Bo Dallas and Kofi Kingston.
  15. Loss
    Will do!
  16. Loss
    Start at 15:54 https://youtu.be/UBSLuTjMeSc?t=954
  17. Loss
    Yes, Juventud was injured.
  18. Loss
    It was outdoors at Disney-MGM and there was no screen. The live crowd had no idea what was going on.
  19. Loss
    There was a big star in the middle of the ring. I have no idea how to tell the difference otherwise.
  20. Loss
    Nash has mentioned that there was a signature pin collection that was supposed to come featuring Ric Flair, Sting and Hall and Nash. Nash squashed it and argued with the merchandise people about it in a funny story. "But we don't work for WCW." "But you do work for WCW." "But we don't." "But you do." And yeah, the biggest difference between WCW and WWE is summed up in the NWO t-shirt. When WWE started selling it in 2002, it had the same WWE logo on the back as everything else in their catalog. You see that and you sort of know right away it's not going to work.
  21. Loss
    By the way, have you seen any SHIMMER from this year? Just curious if it's been a case of them simply being off the radar or just having a disappointing year.
  22. Loss
    This was my first exposure to both guys and they both impressed me. This match never really leaves first gear, but they have enough stuff to do on the mat that it’s still a rewarding way to pass the time. The round breaks do seem to come at inopportune moments, meaning they pause at times when the drama is starting to build and the momentum is broken as a result. Still, that’s par the course for even a lot of the very best European wrestling unfortunately. These guys have a lot of tricked out mat reversals at their disposal, and that stuff is cool as hell, but these two do basics so well that I’d be perfectly content watching them work in and out of wristlocks and headlocks all day. Freeman’s headlock, by the way, looks legitimately painful, as does the front facelock from Kwango in round three. I think there’s enough flash here to engage those who aren’t matwork freaks to the same degree I am, and for those who are like me, get ready to watch a fun display of mad skills. ***1/4
  23. Loss
    This is really cool because for those of us who have really only seen NXT this year, we can take what we think of those matches and set expectations for the other matches. I really look forward to diving into this. Good women's wrestling is one of the things that could get me really excited about current wrestling again, mainly because it's something different.
  24. Loss
    Flair and Kerry had their best match on tape together in Hawaii. Not only does Flair-Hack Sawyer from Portland get praised, it gets praised as the type of Flair match people wish they saw more of.
  25. Loss
    I've seen clips of a match against Austin Idol where he looked like he was working just as hard as ever. Flair-Race from Central States also made tape at least once and that match is really good, although Missing Link as Flair's second is very weird.
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