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Also in regards to the Road Warrior/Sting angle was the Roadies refused to tag Sting. The only reason Sting got in the ring was a blind hot tag.

This weeks tv was another strong episode. The highlight being Lethal vs O'Reilly. Lethal vs O'Reilly I thought this was an excellent match and Lethal's best match this year. It was mostly O'Reilly working on top so we were saved having Lethal work on top for a long stretch. Lethal was great at taking an ass kicking. I liked how O'Reilly used the headlock early in the bout. The commentators were great at getting over the significance of it in Minnesota comparing it to Bock/Robinson. Kyle went from the head, then started going after the arms and legs. Lethal was really great at selling the arm along with his facials. Lethal using the Lethal combination bothered me a bit. I love how he protected the bad limb on Hail to the King. I thought the finish was phenomenal. O'Reilly really feels like a top 10 guy. Post match Lethal shit cans the selling and I took it down a notch because it really bothered me. Still great stuff. 4*

Baretta vs Owens The guys worked hard but didn't really tell a story. Baretta took most of the match. Owens looks like he's used to working in front of 200 people. He seems like he doesn't know how to get over. Nothing was really built to. The match wasn't bad, it just lacked direction. 2 1/4* Dorada vs Finlay This was a good match. It was very basic storytelling which is really what it needed to be. Finlay really impressed me here with his work on top. All of his stuff looked nasty. The headlock work and arm work had a real aggressive look to it. Dorada makes a comeback with a couple of highspots and an awesome dive to the outside. Finlay cuts him off again and really rag dogs in his headlock. He even uses his dads rolling slam. Dorada makes a comeback again and scores the victory. Both guys come out of this looking good. 3* Bobby Fish vs Tiger Mask This was a one man show in Fish doing everything he could to have a good match. He told a story on offense. Set up the heat . Sold his injury and did spots to himself. Tiger Mask was a total load here. 2* Jushin Liger vs Kyle O'Reilly This was a lot of fun. Both guys were great working the mat. They both worked on top . The highspots were well executed. They built to a fun finish. I really enjoyed this. 3 1/4*

Those negatives you mention are reasons people don't give him a fair shake. Mostly his gimmick doesn't scream out great wrestler. If people get past that they should at least consider him for their list.

I voted Stan. Though Funk's versatility really makes this close. It ended up who I'd rather watch and it's Hansen.

Rhyno has the same deal.

I watched it too. The show had a big important feel. I watched the Hispanic commentary because you could hear the crowd better. The matches weren't blow away. Though everyone had something fun, or interesting, or a good performance. I thought Moose looked about as good as he has ever looked. I dug ACH working heel. I knew he had it in him, and should be booked on all big shows. Drew Galloway is looking good all over the world.Solar didn't disappoint. I thought the drama in the finals was off the charts with the triple overtime.

We got 3 more matches in the tournament. Gedo vs Komatsu This was ok. It told a story just not that compelling of one. We get an early shine by Komatsu. Gedo takes a powder and uses his experience to cause Komatsu to be impatient and Gedo gets the heat. He works on top using roughhouse tactics and his smarts. Komatsu gets a hope spot and gets the 1/2 crab. Gedo makes the rope. Gedo back on top and gets the finish. It was a basic story of the veteran vs the youngster. 2* Cavernario vs Taguchi Taguchi goes the comedy route early. Cavenario with his lucha background is quite good at working comedy spots into his match. We get a couple of fun dives. They get serious for a bit. Though the match is comedy driven. 2 1/4* Kushida vs Nick Jackson These guys have worked each other a ton.So they work a real fun athletically based match. Their were nice counters to spots each other does. I love Kushida's arm work. Both guys have a lot of charisma. A mistake by Kushida led to a Nick Jackson win. Good stuff. 2 3/4* This stuff is pretty underwhelming for the most part.

Anytime man. Not everyone is going to agree with me, but I feel I'm fair for the most part .

Lethal vs Liger vs M. Briscoe vs Nakamura This started a little slow. Liger and Nakamura's reception from the crowd was truly amazing. I really thought this was a great Lethal performance here and carried the match with Nakamura. Briscoe and Liger added to it though. I liked how Jay and Briscoe were working together and Lethal out of nowhere turned on him. The match built well and told a good story. 3 1/4* Tanahashi vs Strong I thought this was an excellent match. My minor gripe with it was Tanahashi didn't bring the intensity like Strong did. I felt he worked hard though. The flurry at the end made you believe Strong had a chance of winning, and seemed the crowd believed in him. Strong was great at working over Tanahashi's back. He brought an intensity. Tanahashi was good in his working underneath. Especially working in his signature spots. The blood was good, but the announcers were more worried about getting it stopped than announcing the match. 4* Addiction vs Okada/Gedo I thought Addiction really came across as dicks in this match. Gedo's FIP work was great as was the Addiction's work on top. Okada was set up to shine and he did. They worked a southern tag so the story was easy to tell. 3 1/4* Jay Briscoe vs Bobby Fish Another good match that told a basic story with a finish that established a pecking order. The crowd was actually booing Jay early but it went away. The story was Jay the fighter vs Fish the technician.Jay would use punches, upper cuts and other rough house moves. Fish would work the leg and that was the story. Fish kicked out of the Jay driller, but ate a DVDR on the apron and another driller for the pin. 3 1/4* Kingdom vs Young Bucks/AJ Styles This was another good match. When they worked the Southern tag it was really good. At times I thought the match tried to be too cute. Matt doing a double FIP section was great. 3 1/2* Overall another good show. Not as good as the live reports of the show were. I thought this was the 3rd best of the 3 shows. Still a thumbs up show with a great atmosphere.

That was taken at the comicpalooza that I attended Saturday.

I had a lot of fun doing the show. We get into a lot of stuff happening now. ROH/NJPW both Philly and Toronto NJPW BOSJ NJPW Dominion NXT Takeover: Unstoppable WWE RAW, Payback and Elimination Chamber UFC 187 preview Nevada State athletic commission coming down on performance enhancing drugs for MMA and Boxing TNA being canceled by Destination America Lucha World Cup preview

A bit.

I went to Comicpalooza today in Houston. Their were a lot of wrestlers signing autographs and taking pictures. They were all super nice. Piper especially went out of his way to talk to his fans. Actually they all were great. Ron Simmons and Charles Wright seemed like they were having a blast. Ted Dibiase talking the old territories with me. Sting was cool. Told him I'm sure he's heard it a million times , but I'm going to make it a million 1 and hope to see him at Mania next year. Then I think I surprised him by going I hope his son does well at the Chiefs training camp. Bobby Heenan was there as well signing autographs. Their have been sporadic updates in the WO about his health. I have no idea how he's feeling . I can only tell you what I saw.I wan't expecting what I saw. The throat cancer has really taken a lot out of him. He's in a wheel chair and looks to weigh about 90 pounds. The guy in front of me had some old SHC programs that he was in, and Bobby seemed to really enjoy looking at it. It seems like he's had a bad hand dealt to him later in his life. Just wanted to let people know and to join me in positive thoughts aimed at the Brain.

That was tremendous. I think the rich dude's yacht was the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks. Also KrisZ when you mention JJ saying Garvin was looking good. Wasn't that during the phase of looking for a new Horseman before the Windham turn? Or do I have my timeline off a bit?

That is absurd Brain having to defend them against those 2 teams. feel they have plenty of good performances, but plenty of mediocre ones to go with the good.

If we accept that Bret means faster pace as work rate I can buy into that argument that stampede did usher in a higher work rate . Now Brainfollower I have watched 60-80 Hart Foundation competitive matches. I'm not pushing the argument that they aren't very good. I'm pushing the point that they were overrated and very formula in how they worked . They had really good matches to average matches with the same opponent. Which I found odd because they were formula, but not consistent .

Orton came right from the Carolina's even if Florida he worked a good bit. The time frame I'm looking at is 84-86. Of course Parv it's going to become a melting pot when you're going from territory to territory grabbing the best guys it's inevitable it becomes a melting pot.

I don't really keep track of dates and such anymore, but which one is that ? I'm not in town so I don't have access to my listings.

Bret is referring to the 84-86 timeframe so his work as IC champ or World champ doesn't come into the equation. I'm the one who started the thread. I think Bret made an interesting talking point. It's a talking point I don't agree with though. I was crowd sourcing to see what others thought.

I too have seen every Hennig/Rose and do have one above KOTR.

No one's trying to hang Bret over his words. I'm trying to see what others think. I've made my position clear . The George Scott crew were the ones really delivering and having the best match on the show . They're the ones leading the pack. I feel the Stampede boys were a nice compliment to the card, but it was in fact the Carolina crew having more dynamic matches 1st. How is it contextual in time. The statement was wrong then, and wrong now.I'll grant that the Bulldigs were innovative for the time period . That's not the statement he said in the podcast. He said they were the guys at the forefront raising the bar of the work rate in the promotion. If you agree with him cool. I just feels the evidence doesn't support that claim.

1. I hate to break it to you. That Bret ushered in the workrate style of the IC title was a talking point of yours. Either you don't want to remember that cringe worthy statement, or you were nervous and don't remember saying it. I'll chalk it up to nerves on your part, and it's obvious your not hanging your hat on that statement now so it's a moot point. 2. It's fine if you think that KOTR with Hennig is Hennig's best match. Though don't make it an absolute statement like you did in your original post. Hennig has loads of great matches and their will be plenty of different opinions on this from different people. When you have so many options the odds of reaching 100% consensus is zilch. 3. I've watched about 80-90% of the Hart Foundation non squash matches that are on tape and from my conclusions they were pretty hit or miss. For every 4* match with the Killer Bees or insert tag team they had 3 in the 2-2 1/2* range. I found the work very formula, and I'm a guy who likes formula. If I saw one more sternum bump to set up the hot tag as Bret as a heel. and one more sternum bump to set up the FIP as Bret as a face I'd have to quit watching wrestling. You might put a premium on good matches, and that's fine. Don't think that's the only way to look at things though.

War of the Worlds night 2 5/13/15 Watanabe vs Adam Page Page looked pretty vicious here. The Colby Corino stuff was fun. Watanabe should be watching Goto tapes. The guys didn't really click for me 1 3/4* Elgin vs Kushida Kushida always gets a smile out of me. The story is pretty basic here. The big man vs little man. Elgin busted out some high impact moves. Kushida targets the arm. The work on Elgin's arm was good. Elgin does the Backlund one arm dead lift spot. Kushida worked really hard, Elgin just isn't at Kushida's level. Through out these shows Elgin proved he's not at the level of the NJPW wrestlers. 2 1/2* Naito vs O'Reilly The pandering to the crowd early was great. I'm enjoying the southern spot show comedy spots early. They get to business, but I actually preferred the comedy spots. O'Reilly was pretty great going after the arm. 2 3/4* I'll be back later with the rest of my thoughts.

Night 2 from Philly is up.