gordi

I love the way that every single segment is building toward something for the future, but without getting repetitive. You use interviews, angles, post-match stuff... and that card in Richmond just keeps getting hotter and hotter.

I'm imagining all four guys just being a bloody mess after that cage match.

Yeah, I'd have been marking right out for those last two matches in San Antonio.

Yeah, I have to imagine that would be fascinating to watch. I found this, at least: http://slam.canoe.com/Slam/Wrestling/2015/12/31/22588461.html

Damn, man... I went to have a look at Dominion tickets today and they are already completely sold out! Good for NJPW... but disappointing for me.

@jesse: that definitely is a good thing, overall.

Then you bring out Ivan Putzki, and put the pre-nup on top of his head...

I appreciate the nod toward the Martel vs Jumbo match. Andre staring down Kokina is an awesome image. Was Armand always the lesser of the three Rougeau Brothers, or do you think he could have been Jaques and Raymond's equal, had he not needed back surgery?

That's a pretty darned good excuse. Which Con?

Tim Flowers vs Ray Stevens in the Cow Palace. NIce! If it turns out that the Rooster is Terry Taylor... I could get behind that. A heel Taylor in San Francisco would be something worth seeing. Not saying I'll be let down if it isn't him, mind you.

Not only that but (based on the small sample size of what I saw this year during RumbleMania) it feels like most of them are reading off of the same script, and that the script was written by someone who has never ever 1) been in a fight - or been in a tense situation, or stood up for themselves... - or 2) paid attention to how actual human beings speak to one another. Just awful, awful stuff. Painful to watch. I fully admit that I am a very casual WWE fan, at best, but from what little I have seen this year: The vast majority of the promos and the skits, as well as a lot of the commentary and the insane "hard cut every time someone makes a move" production style all did major damage to my ability to enjoy watching WWE in 2018. I don't even want to mention the booking... though I was happy with how they booked both Rumble matches. The video packages were still good, for the most part, and there is a ton of talent on the roster... but a lot of the time it honestly felt like a chore to watch the shows.

I like how this thread has morphed from what it was originally intended to be, into just listing which wrestlers we find attractive, and then into a discussion of how the WWE women's division should be booked. I feel like a complete double morph like that is relatively rare, even here.

I like the finish for Bad News Brown vs Sting. Somebody had to move on in the tournament, but you don't want to make either guy look weak. Pretty darn good job finding that balance point in all the tournament matches, really.

Building DeBeers up as a real threat makes sense. Kabuki and Nord are indeed an entertaining team-up. Adding Sabu to this roster (and to Pipers Pit) almost seems unfair. Looking forward to reading about his exploits. The Varsity Club angle continues to run hot. As I expected, it's all great stuff. You have a great roster and you are using everyone on it really well.

Really! I'm sure it's all great stuff as usual, but maybe take some of that energy and post a comment on someone else's shows

I like how you are using the tournament matches to advance your stories and build toward the huge Memorial Day card. TA vs Atlas sounded like a really good match.

I wonder how strange it felt for Martel to get stuck on a team with Kernodle, working against the Rougeaus. I'm sure he handled it like a true pro, though.

I saw that Flowers finisher was the piledriver and we just went from there. Sometimes you have to research as you go along. Yeah, absolutely. That has been one of the major side benefits of participating in this project: I have been learning a ton about 80s wrestling.

I like all of the long term story telling you've got going on. From Carlitos' blindness through Tamba's rise as a monster through Gama's beef with Profe... you don't rush anything and you let the stories breathe.

I have to agree, you are doing a good job of holding the viewer's attention by building up mystery and intrigue. Good job on the Flowers match description. That brought back memories of seeing him work in Vancouver in the 89s.

I think this was only the second time these two faced each other one-on-one (though they had already been in countless tag matches together over the previous two years). This is, I believe, in the Rinkai Sports Center (with the fans at ringside sitting on mats). The entrances have me misting up with nostalgia. How many times have I been one of the fans hanging snacks around Kuishin's neck? How many times have I been blessed by Ebessan? (Literally dozens of times). For me, their (many, many, many) comedy spots are like "Who's on First" or "The Seven Words You Can't Say on TV." Just straight-up classic comedy that you practically know by heart, to the point where it's more nostalgic than funny... but the timing is so precise and wonderful that you find yourself laughing out loud anyway. Matsui (the referee) deserves equal credit for his role in this. They work together so damned well. I'm not even kidding at all when I say that I rank this pairing (plus Matsui) right up there with Flair vs Steamboat, Tenryu vs Jumbo, Von Erichs vs Freebirds, Hansen vs Colon... Everything they do together is going to be worth watching, for me. I think the 2 out of 3 falls match from 2003 is their masterpiece, but this particular one is pretty special too. They get a lot of time here, so they can get a ton of stuff in without rushing anything, and they work a long, hot finishing sequence as well.

I was so excited to get the chance to watch this. Cougar and Disco are both guys that I consider friends. Cougar's been my drinking buddy for over 8 years now, and Disco is close friends with my good friend Verne Seibert - which is one of those "If you're a friend of his, you're a friend of mine" type scenarios, and we all (Verne, Disco, Cougar, and I) have the Vancouver All Star Wrestling connection as well. Seeing them work together was a real trip for me. I'm fairly sure this was Disco's first match in Japan (he also went over to work for M-Pro, if I remember correctly), and it just about killed me when the Korakuen Hall crowd popped loudly for his patented disco taunts early in the match. The match itself is clipped down to five minutes of high spots, though for some reason they leave a little botch in as well. Cougar, as always, has zero regard for his own well-being. About half the time, when he does his Chair Atomico it looks like he's going to break his neck. This is absolutely one of those times... and it isn't even the highest-risk move he performs. Mainly, though: This was just a very special kind of marking out for me, seeing two of my friends working together, 17 plus years ago, to pop the crowd in f'n Korakuen. Warms my heart.

I think that judging a pro wrestler based on their "look" is perfectly reasonable. In fact, I have long insisted that it's something we need to do more of on these boards. Pro wrestling is not just about the work. The look and the character are a huge part of it, too. When the look, the character, and the work all fit together, you get a particular type of pro wrestling greatness. (Think for example of how Rick Rude's amazing physique fits perfectly with his egomaniacal character and the hip swivel taunt... how it all works together synergistically. Think of Vader, Abdullah, Classic Flair, The Road Warriors...) I mean, a good booker is gonna use Braun Strowman differently than Spike Dudley, based on how they look. Judging Pro Wrestlers (or anyone) on their "attractiveness" is a whole other kettle of fish. That wasn't what this thread was intended to be, but at certain points that is what it has devolved into. I think that's a common consequence of the regrettable current trend where many people just want to toss their opinions out there, as opposed to engaging in discussion. We all, myself included, do that sometimes. It's also a consequence of the (sadly?) very human tendancy to want to judge damn near everything. I hope it's understood (and I hope - perhaps naively - it's universally true) that when any of us posts a judgement on a wrestler's attractiveness that it is only one (small?) part of how we think of them, overall. That we also consider (as Vic put it) the content of their character and their talent and so on... Hopefully that goes without saying. Presumably a comment like "Nia Jax is attractive" or whatever is not the sum total of that poster's thoughts on Nia Jax.

Ha! Nice!

In the mid-80s in Vancouver, I was able to get WWF, Stampede, Crockett's NWA, AWA, and occasionally UWF on TV. We didn't get Memphis or Portland or WCCW... and even with the stuff we did get, it was just the TV. Arena shows were limited to WWF, Stampede, and the local All Star Wrestling, at that time. So, I'm wondering: were chaotic finishes like the ones you wrote up for the Dallas TV show and Amarillo arena show above, common in WCCW at that time? I seem to remember a lot of the NWA TV shows finishing in a bonzo gonzo "Fans, we are out of time!" manner back then. I'm not complaining. I enjoy it. I just really don't know and I'm hoping you can teach me.