shoe

Another Low-End MOTYC comes from TNA. EC3 vs. Superstar Spud.3/13/15 The main event was pretty damn good. I see Dylan's Lawler comparison and raise him a Ricky Morton. It had A Ricky Morton vs. Nikita feel. This was a throwback match based on story telling. Even the run ins had kind of a Memphis feel to it. It had a nice punch base beginning . The blood came and it was about Spud's selling. He really carried it. EC3 has a good look, but his offense is pretty pedestrian, but the way Spud sold made the match. 4 1/4*

The main event was pretty damn good. I see Dylan's Lawler comparison and raise him a Ricky Morton. It had A Ricky Morton vs. Nikita feel. This was a throwback match based on story telling. Even the run ins had kind of a Memphis feel to it. It had a nice punch base beginning . The blood came and it was about Spud's selling. He really carried it. EC3 has a good look, but his offense is pretty pedestrian, but the way Spud sold made the match. 4 1/4*

Plus Steamboat and Flair did tag a lot in the early 80's in Mid-Atlantic. So it would make more sense.

Also on a final take from me. I'll take people bitching about current WWE than 50 pages of people full of crap saying it's awesome. I'd rather be part of a community that has integrity. This isn't a shot at Sorrow. I know he loves the current product. There is a folder where a few of us do discuss the 80's projects. I get my fill of discussing 80's matches there I.also want to save it for when the time is right to discuss it. I also do a podcast with you where I get to express my thoughts verbally with you along with Johnny, and Kelly the current Brain Buster champion in regards to older footage. I show up on Steven's show from time to time to usually discuss older footage. So the board has been a place for me to talk about things I like that is happening right now. Besides WWE their is a lot of cool stuff to discuss that is current. ROH is putting on a good product. During the Davey Richards era it was the shits. Lucha Underground in novel and showcasing a lot of AAA talent. AAA has Rey Misterio returning Sunday and that could lead to AAA exploding into the #2 wrestling company in the world.NXT is fun to watch. NJPW is putting on strong big events the last few years. They'll need to switch things up soon or it will become too stale. AJ Styles right now as IWGP champion is like a modern day Nick Bockwinkle in the type of different matches with different opponents he's having. People want to follow things that are good. Right now their are a lot of options that are happening in the moment that are good. Old school will always be there. Eventually things will get boring or overexposed and old school will be more prevelant on the board. Bottom line the PWO community loves good wrestling, and their was a lot of great wrestling in the 70's , 80's, 90's and beyond.

I discussed this with Parv earlier. Here are some thoughts I shared with Parv and some that I didn't 1. It's March and it's mania. The negative talk is because the booking has been terrible. Last year we as fans were pissed until they switched gears and the build became a lot more palatable. 2. Their are a lot of podcasts that cover old school wrestling. People get their fix with those. To a lot of people the 90's are considered old school. 3. He's upset that their isn't more talk of 70's footage. Bottom line it doesn't have the nostalgia factor that the 80's has. 4. He's looking at Dory Jr and has positive feelings for him as a worker. Not a lot of people share that opinion. Will has been the most vocal against Dory. Bottom line, most people take Will's stance on Dory. People don't want to go down that rabbit hole with you. 5. He then says people don't want to go on the ride with Brisco, Wahoo etc either. I think watching 70's style wrestling is more foreign than watching Lucha to a lot of people. 6. The best of 80's sets have been in a holding pattern. That generates a lot of 80's talk. 7. Parv you could talk about 80's Lucha in the Lucha thread. It's not type old school you want to talk about. 8. The NJPW/ROH is something that I'm going to take as a shot aimed at me. I feel I've been given a label as an old school guy. I like good wrestling. I don't care what decade it's in. I've given ROH/and NJPW some positive pub on my end. They deserve it. They've put on good shows for me. On top of it both ROH and NJPW have streaming services where you can essentially go on tour with both brands in almost real time. If this was available in the 70's or 80's for MId-Atlantic Parv would have been all over it. 9. The 90's have been covered in great detail. Loss and people like PeteF3, Chad, Childs and others have contributed a lot to those topics; and should be proud of all the discussion of the 90's product in all parts of wrestling. 10. Finally, people might not feel all that comfy talking about footage from the 70's , but damn sure want to read about it. You don't post much in current WWE because you don't follow the product. You obviously read it. I bet a lot of people do read about your stuff with Brisco and Dory, but don';t have a lot to say about it because they haven't been involved in that world. 11. Parv, you're still my boy.

I think the answer is both. Creative didn't do them any favors. Though Bo Rotunda wasn't a good enough wrestler to work near the top. He easily could have been like a heel Santino role. Adam Rose was killed with all the bunny stuff. His gimmick was fun enough to get over as a mid card act. Still as a wrestler he's lacking.

I'm pretty curious to see what type of match Joe and ACH put on Friday. See if it compares to ACH's match with Styles.

I'm curious on how many of the Indy's running that weekend will have better matches than mania?

How about the I'm sure I'll have enough toxins in me to enjoy the show option?

I was pretty shocked at the Observer letter feedback. We all have our biases. Me I love limb work.Seeing someone give Ibushi vs Yano 3 3/4* stars is crazy. The match barely got 3 minutes.

I was thinking that might be the problem when we were talking about it. I was like Johnny can't be that unsound with tech.

I watched the last show before the Cup finals set for Sunday. This was a pretty ho hum show. Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Sho Tanaka I liked this match. You had Taguchi working over Tanaka's leg. Which Tanaka sold well. He also mixed in his schtick and Butt strikes. Tanaka was great at showing fire and fighting underneath. They timed Tanaka's comebacks well and overall it was fun. 2 1/2* Satoshi Kojima, Tiger Mask and Mascara Dorada vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Yohei Komatsu and Hiroyoshi Tenzan I thought this had some moments, but overall lacked direction. Seemed everyone was concerned in pushing forward their own agenda, while not treating this as a match. Had more of a Lucha 1 st caida feeling out process with people just pairing up. 1 3/4* Captain New Japan and Yuji Nagata vs. Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata This was solid. I like Goto and Shibata as a team. The Nagata exchanges were good. It just felt like the Captain felt out of place . 2 1/2* Tetsuya Naito, Tomoaki Honma and Manabu Nakanishi vs. Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall Another match that had it's highs and lows. I liked Honma's FIP work but felt it had no consequences to it. I liked Honma's missing of the headlock when Anderson was caught in the backbreaker stretch. That was a nice little twist on a common spot. I thought the finish was a bit overkill. Hall showed the same excact amount as he did on the previous day show. They do a good job hiding his greeness with some flashy spots. 2 3/4* Gedo, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida and Togi Makabe This was my match of the night. They played up the results of the booking from the 1st 2 nights of the Cup. Tanahashi wanting Yano. Makabe and Ishii wanting each other. I thought Kushida was the star of the match. he was great at working spots with Gedo when he was on offense. He was real good at FIP On top of it he did a nice dive along with Tanahashi to set up a good finish with the King Kong Knee Drop onto Gedo.Gedo again does a solid job on the houseshows carrying his side in the ring with some help from Ishii. Yano was real good here as well playing cheating chicken shit heel. It felt like a real match with something at stake. 3 * Shinsuke Nakamura, Yoshi Hashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi A pretty cookie cutter match. Where everyone had their spot in the match. Again Tonga showed some real good personality in the match. 2 1/2*

Cool.

Well going to the tv live is a chore, while house shows are fun to attend.

vs AJ Styles 8/22/14 vs. Roderick Strong 2/21/15

This was an interesting show that I'd give a thumbs up to. It has me excited to see the Final 4 on Sunday. On paper this show looked pretty mediocre, but the matches exceeded my expectations. Jay White vs. Yoshi-Hashi This was a solid opener. Jay White looked real good again. I thought White's offense looked good. The match wasn't much, but they had a fun stretch of nearfalls. 1 3/4* Mascara Dorada, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tiger Mask, Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima vs. Kushida, Jushin Liger, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Captain New Japan and Tomoaki Honma This is a tough match to rate. It had a lot of great moments, along with some great pairings. I just not sure how it translates into a match. The match they want us to want to see after this match was Tenzan/Kojima. I want to see Kushida/Dorada. That was the most ooooh ahhh pairing. Honma played a FIP that was solid. It would have been better if his opponents all were on the same page in working him over. I liked seeing Kushida trying to chop down Nakanishi. I feel Taguchi is better in multiple tags where his schtick is fun, as opposed to grating during a singles match. Tenzan's hotb tag was ok. I think the story telling might have been crisper if their were less people in the match. Still this was good 3* Yohei Komatsu and Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yuji Nagata and Sho Tanaka This was my match of the night. The crowd was really excited to see the Young Lions mix it up with the main eventers. The story of the match was the Young Lions are ready to mix it up with the stars. The big guns gave them enough to keep it interesting. It was cool to see the Young Lions build the finish which was tremendous. 3 1/2* Tama Tonga, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Cody Hall vs.Kazuchika Okada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kazushi Sakuraba, and Tomohiro Ishii This was a good match. We got some comedy early. It was a little sloppy in spots or the timing was a little off early. They got it together and had a fun match. Hall looked pretty athletic, but looked real green. I loved Ishii knocking his head off setting up the Razors Edge. Nakamura did amazing job working that finish. I thought this was one of the best performances I've seen Tama Tonga. He showed athleticism, and a lot of charisma. 2 3/4* Togi Makabe vs. Yujiro Takahashi This match did nothing for me. I thought a lot of the strikes looked weak. The story they were telling was disjointed. I wasn't expecting a killer match, but this was worse than I thought it would be. 2 1/4* Toru Yano vs. Kota Ibushi This was a match that looked bad on paper. It still had its moments. 1 1/2* Bad Luck Fale vs. Tetsuya Naito This was a legit good match that was hurt that it went a few minutes too long. Fale was good working the back and using his weight and size to his advantage. Naito sold pretty good and might have been the best I've seen him at it. I've complained about Naito's selling in the past. I liked Naito's attempting to chop down Fale's leg to bring him to the mat. This was all good.Then it lost its way a bit toward the finish. Like they were doing stuff that didn't compliment the story they were telling. 2 1/2* Hirooki Goto vs. Katsuyori Shibata Another match I wasn't sure what to make of it. A lot of it I liked then they would do stuff that hurt the match. Main thing I hated was the no selling of the suplexes. I loved Shibata's work on the arm, and Goto selling it after using clotheslines. Shibata went after it late in the match, I just didn't understand why he didn't go after it more. Eventually Goto catches Shibata in a Key Lock, and Shibata doesn't sell it as well as Goto. I liked the match, but it had a lot of inconsistencies. 3 1/4*

I totally agree with you on reDragon. They're like a modern day Tully and Arn. Where they can be tag champions. Though when need be have good matches with an assortment of baby faces like Ron Garvin, Windham, and Luger.

Will those are pretty good points. Dealing with money be paid the NXT talent they have been making exceptions . Balor is a guy I believe Meltzer has mentioned is getting paid much more than the normal guy they've signed .Which is step one in setting up a caste system of talent.

I'm all for them touring. The shows shouldn't be recorded for the network. NXT doesn't need to be more exposed. Though this will be a fine line to walk between making money and developing talent for the main roster. Also I think people are being a bit hard on HHH is doing a workrate promotion to please the hardcores. I think people forget he was a Flair guy over a Hogan guy. He always wanted to be respected like Flair as a champion. He wanted to do epic matches. His instincts just stunk. I think he's a fan of good wrestling, and puts a premium on good matches.

I'm going to put up the Young Bucks vs reDragron from the ROH 13 Anny show 3/1/15 This was I wrote abbout it the night of the show. The Young Bucks vs. reDRagon My match of the night. I thought the UFC gal was fine doing distraction spots, We start out with a ridiculous pace. Just so many hot moves. Young Bucks are positioned as babyfaces here. We even get a FIP. It wasn't super long but long enough to get the point over. Matt Jackson got caught in a hanging arm bar by O'Reilly. Jackson put that over big and sold it the rest of the way. Major props to him. We get this super hot finish with so much action.The FIP really allowed the action to take a breath and then kick it into high gear. 4 1/4*

He did, but it worked.

Here are some little thoughts on the ROH 1/31/15 show from Dayton. The Romantic Touch vs. Will Ferrara This match had some good schtick. Romantic touch was good in the gimmick. The match went a little long and made me lose interest 2* Michael Elgin vs. Chris Dickinson I'm not an Elgin guy. I think he has a lot of bad instincts as a wrestler.Here it was 2 guys trying to beat the crap out of each other. Nothing to difficult to understand. 2 1/2 * Matt Taven & Michael Bennett vs. Hanson & Tommaso CIampa It started out as Ciampa and Bennett and morphed into the tag. The tag was a ton of fun. We get some really nice brawling. We get a southern tag, and then some more brawling. This bout was super charged. Maria was great 3 3/4* Cheeseburger & Big Mac vs. Jay Lethal & J. Diesel This was a blast. Just a basic southern tag. 2 3/4* Aeroform vs. Jimmy Jacobs & BJ Whitmer Whitmer as a bully is really the best use of him now. Aeroform was green, but have potential. Another match that dragged a bit. 2 1/4* Alberto El Patron vs. Roderick Strong This was my match of the night. This came across like a big time battle. Strong with the bloody nose. Patron almost killing himself on a tope'. This was just a hard fought battle that makes me proud to be a wrestling fan. Patron destroying the arm. Strong working the back. Great stuff. 4* The Briscoes vs. Matt Sydal & ACH This is a babyface match. So it can be tricky to work. Again the match went a little too long. Both teams looked good. Jay comes across as the real deal. ACH is such a fun babyface, as is Sydal. Mark was good here too. With the match getting time at times it seemed the story of the match suffered. 3 1/2* Overall a fun show. It felt like it needed another match since some of the matches felt too long. Plus we had some angles to set up matches, and the Bennett/Ciampa non match. Clearly a lot going on. Not having a Styles or reDragon match changes the dynamic. So you put performers out there that are talented, but now need to go longer than they really should.

Night 1 thoughts Jushin Thunder Liger, KUSHIDA, Yohei Komatsu & Jay White vs. Tiger Mask, Ryusuke Taguchi, Mascara Dorada & Sho Tanaka I liked this match. Though it was rushed it felt like it was being paced for 20 minutes. Then bam done. I liked the Dorada and Kushida interactions. Solid opener. 2 1/2* YOSHI-HASHI vs. Yujiro Takahashi 2 guys I'm not at all interested in. This started a little off but it found its way and was solid stuff. Nothing special. 2 1/4* Togi Makabe vs. Tomoaki Honma Now we're talking. This was really good. Honma so far this year has been incredible. Like an easy top 10 worker year so far. He's been the best guy on the NJPW house shows. Here he was his great self. He put over Makabe stuff. He timed his comebacks. The crowd got behind him. Honma wasso great at selling here. Makabe was solid, but this was the Honma show. 3 1/2* Satoshi Kojima vs. Katsuyori Shibata This was another good match. Both guys were just beating the crap out of each other. Just 2 dudes making you believe. Nothing fancy just a hard hitting affair. I liked how Shibata worked the leg while smacking Kojima in the back of the head. 3* Hirooki Goto vs. Yuji Nagata I really enjoyed the physicality mixed in with the mat work. A super fun match with good reversals. It also had some real crowd pleasing spots. 3 1/2* Shinsuke Nakamura, Tomohiro Ishii & Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Manabu Nakanishi & Captain New Japan This was a good match. It's just hard to get into a match that is so lopsided in main eventers. 2 1/2* Kota Ibushi vs. Doc Gallows I liked this match but it could have been better.I liked how Ibushi started with leg kicks. Gallows immediately uses his size and takes over. Gallows beats on him and uses power moves along with his physicality. They could have put some hope spots here and there. Their was a mistimed bump from Gallows to the outside. We go the finish. The key to the match was Ibushi's selling. It made the match. 3 1/4* Tetsuya Naito vs. Karl Anderson This was another good match. We start with Anderson apron bombing Naito . Anderson in control and this all good. As a hope spot Naito uses a standing senton onto Anderson. I hated that choice since the heat was set up with Anderson destroying the back. We get Anderson in control and he works the neck and back. We even see a top rope power bomb. We get Anderson teasing his finisher. Naito makes a comeback and a run at Anderson. Good stuff. A couple of things knocked it down for me like the back senton. Overall, good stuff. 3 3/4* Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Yano This finish was a shocker. At least it was short. Kazuchika Okada vs. Bad Luck Fale These guys just don't work all that great with one another. Okada isn't Nakamura. Still plodding, and boring. 1 3/4* Overall the show as a lot fun. Can't wait for the next one.

I got my money's worth at 10.81. With that said it wasn't at the level of the Atlanta show or the PPV.

Look I watch Hulu. They capture the main event picture. The main thing you don't get from it is how bad they under cut the non main eventers like the Dolphs. Still you realize how bad they've under cut the mid card. The backstage stuff is kept to a minimum. The divas pretty much don't exist. The really bad stuff gets cut unless it's with the main eventers.