gordi

Somehow, simultaneously, I wish you would stop doing this to yourself and I am so glad that you keep doing this.

"In cahoots" is such a perfect pro wrestling turn of phrase.

That's true, but: It was a main event spot in the same way that Koko B Ware main evented the first ever RAW (vs Yokozuna). It was the last match on the show, but nobody in their right mind expected Janela or Koko to go over.

That is very well put, Laz. Really sums it up nicely.

I think that AEW is using Janela pretty well. He's more or less a JTTS for them. He's a guy who bumps well, can take a nasty beating, and is willing to risk his neck for a big spot. He seems to be getting used as a big-heart underdog who takes a beating, bumps all over, and gets a couple of big crazy spots in. He's not as good in that role as Darby Allin, but I think there is a role for a guy like him in most promotions and AEW in particular seems to like underdog babyfaces who bump like crazy. I've enjoyed Janela quite a bit so far, to be honest, but it could be a glass-half-full/glass half empty situation. He certainly works hard to put the other guy over. That's a quality I appreciate, and another point in his favor as a (very) poor man's Foley. That being said, his "high roundhouse kick" in the Mox match was truly dire. There are a few guys on the AEW roster who could stand to improve their striking. And Dustin Rhodes is right there. He should hold a clinic or something. Private Party could sit in the front row, beside Janela.

Harper/Lee vs Zeus, vs. Joe Doering, vs. Suama, Ishikawa, Okabayashi... Yes, please.

Agreed. I would very much like to see a Darby Allin vs Lance Archer David vs Goliath match.

Mox vs Archer? Oh hell yeah!

That pretty much puts a cap on it, in my opinion. You are probably the truest Reigns fan that I know, and even you think that Okada was more important... "Who is better?" or "Who do you like more?" might have a different result. I wonder what two wrestlers would make for the most contentious "Who was more important?" argument. El Santo vs Thesz? Inoki vs Baba? Hogan vs Flair? Danielson vs Styles? Trish vs Charlotte? Shockmaster vs Catweasel?

I'd be a bit surprised if anyone here other than Kawada Smile picked The Big Dog. Count me among those who don't really think it's close. If you replaced Roman on top for his entire run I don't think WWE would be noticeably better or worse off, but it's difficult to imagine NJPW at it's present heights without Okada as the ace leading the way. Great job on that poster, by the way!

I finally got around to watching the IPWF show, and I was fully entertained. It was the enthusiasm on here that convinced me to go out of my way to find it, and I appreciate you all for that. As El-P said, there are just so many closely-observed little details that they get just right. The many tossed-out-there Canadian referenced cracked me up (as did the probably-unintentional gag of a Canadian territory where most of the wrestlers and crew have southern accents and nobody has a Canadian accent). Little things like "Katie bar the door" and the shout-out to "all the shut-ins" gave me a warm nostalgic glow. Rhino's deep-cut Southpaw Regional Wrestling reference just about blew my mind, as did Jazzy Fitbody's perfectly 1980s horribly-executed splash... but really it was all the little things that made it work for me. It wasn't exactly flawless, and I wouldn't want to watch that every week, but they could easily hook me in if they did that two or three times a year. I'm very glad I got to see that.

Indeed it would.

I read somewhere, someone joking that Dark Order, Nightmare Collective, and the Butcher the Blade & the Bunny all being dressed-in-black and goth-y was so that they would sell more t-shirts at Hot Topic. That actually makes perfect sense to me. Maybe one group is goth, one is emo, and one is vampire? Down the road, they can start feuding by calling each other poseurs.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xz8jff

Austin & Zbyszko vs Windham & Rhodes 2/29/92 is a very good southern-style tag that maybe deserves more love, if you'd like to put some WCW stuff on there.