gordi

My Sunday shows tend to have as many rookies as I can manage to get in matches , as part of paying their dues. This does have some more high level matches than usual for a small market show, but I think the people of Rockford deserve a treat, if only for giving us Cheap Trick. As near as I can tell, Furnas only had the one match. The AWA version of the Can-Am Express is Phil Lafon and Tom Zenk. Oh yeah that's right. My mistake with Furnas, it totally slipped my mind that your Can-Ams are a different line-up. Two of the top ten or twenty live shows I have been to in my life were Cheap Trick concerts. The best one was a local radio station's 50th (or 25th or whatever) anniversary where Cheap Trick were the special guest performers and only myself and a handful of friends - we had won free tickets - were up front and into the show. It was almost like we got a private concert: they played requests for us, and we all went home with our pockets stuffed with Rick Nielsen guitar picks. They seemed pleased that we wanted to hear songs like "He's a Whore" "Southern Girls" and "Elo Kiddies"

Wow, I did not see that finish coming. Almost risking a riot being set off, I'd imagine. A lot of DQ finishes here. Was that standard booking for big cards in WWC? Interestingly I feel like that booking style (at least in this case) gives more weight to the matches with clear winners. Gives you the option of keeping some of the big feuds going, too. Castillo and Perez celebrating with their fathers was a nice moment. I almost feel sad after reading the results of some of the big cards in this project. I have been looking forward to it, now it's over...

I saw a couple of movies recently where it seemed like the actors at least partly based their characters on great gaijin heels: Jeff Bridges seemed to have based his lawman character Marcus Hamilton in the movie "Hell or High Water" at least partly on Stan "The Lariat" Hansen and Joaquin Phoenix seems to have built the look of hi character Joe in the movie "You Were Never Really Here" on Bruiser Brody (and/or Luke Harper). Both movies are well worth watching, by the way.

“Enough is enough and it's time for a change. Look at me, I’m a champion. I am not a nugget.” - Keith

That's a pretty straight-forward explanation. Thanks. I was under the impression that I'd also seen #2 wrestling without his mask, but I guess it must have been #1 and I misunderstood.

That's a hue show for a high school gym! I'm imagining the crowd making a huge noise by stomping on the bleachers in excitement. Did Doug Furnas get a little extra at the pay window for pulling double duty?

Hey Who, serious question: what is the deal with the Invaders and their masks? Sometimes they wear them, sometimes they don't... I'm watching stuff all out sequence, just random matches here and there, so it's hard for me to make sense of it. "How did the fans get this much garbage already?!?" is such a great line. Tells a whole little story all by itself.

Whoa! New tag champs. I'll bet the bikers in the crowd were not happy about the title change.

My "Elite 8" predictions: Terry Funk vs Bruiser Brody Rick Martel vs Magnum TA Jumbo Tsuruta vs John Studd Nikita Koloff vs Kerry Von Erich "FInal Four" Martel vs Terry Jumbo vs Kerry "FInals" Any of the four possible match-ups would be great, and any of those four would be worthy winners. I'll guess Kerry vs Terry with Von Erich going over... ??? I am 100 per cent confident on zero of those picks. Like LowBlow said, this could go 32 different ways.

Huge win for Perez & Diamond, for sure.

For years, the pride of my record collection was a 12" single of Fred Blassie's "Pencil Neck Geek." Best wrestling song ever, in my opinion.

Man, that card for the 19th... So much crazy action coming up. You've done a great job building up the matches up and down that card. I have to imagine a sold out show and a red-hot crowd.

Nice to see Pillman off the leash. What a tough week the Youngbloods are having: Fly to Japan to take on Anjo and Kido. Fly back to America and take on the British Bullies. Talk about tough, stiff matches! Then back on the 'plane for another go in Japan. Looks like they are up to the challenge, though. Guerreros holding on to their titles by the slimmest of margins! Sarge looking very tough. I am looking forward to his rematch with Bigelow at the JRMC. Adams vs Dundee sounds like a show-stealer. VERY satisfying end to the AWA chapter of the Ron Simmons story. I'm pleased the JWA could play a part in telling that tale.

Ho Ho! Rock Riddle is learning his lesson. His interference actually led to a win for his man today. Good for him! Duggan's looking strong heading into his huge match with Hansen.

Just imagine how much Bigelow could have learned from a run with an experienced big man brawler like Sarge early in his career.

Card for: Middleweight Tag Team Championship Tournament/ International Young Lions Showcase Day 2: April 24th, 1986 – Tokyo, Korakuen Hall Main Event: JWA Middleweight Tag Team Championship Tournament finals (TBD) Semi-Main Event: 5-Man Tag Team Elimination Match: Sting, Shinya Hashimoto, Pegasus Kid, Brian Pillman & Scorpio vs Chris Candido, Kuniaki Kobayashi, Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshinari Ogawa, & Akira Nogami ***BREAK*** Shootstylists (Takada & Funaki) vs Anjo & Kido Owen Hart vs Keichi Yamada Youngbloods (Blackman & Wellington), Hot Property (Travis & Savoldi), & Spike Huber vs Triple H (Hata, Hata, & Hayato), Yoshihiro Asai, and Shunji Kosugi Tournament Semi-Final: Facekickers (Fuchi & Kawada) vs Invaders (#2 & #3) Tournament Semi-Final: Top Guns (Misawa & Hase) vs Shining Wizards (Mutoh & Chono)

I agree with spaldoni. Horner vs Parsons is heating up nicely. I'm hoping we get a Dreaam/JYD tag team in the not too distant future.

At this point, Rock Riddle getting up on the ring apron is like Ric Flair going to the top turnbuckle: You know it is going to end badly for him, but it's entertaining as hell to watch. You're doing a great job building up Singh as a monster. Looking forward to the Inoki bout. Tony St. Clair had no chance there, as it was basically three-on-one. That pays off nicely with the "turn about is fair play" spot later. I'm loving all of the out-of-control brawls all over the place recently. Another good one here. When that 6-man is not even the main event, you know you have a stacked card. Love how the Battle Royal builds off the action earlier on the card. Of course, The Lariat vs Hacksaw is gonna be awesome. Jim Cornette behaving like a big baby is always entertaining. Taylor vs Martel is gonna be another good match!

I'm glad everyone seems to like the name. They might be sticking around as a team for a while. It's easy to make good use of the foreign talent when everyone keeps sending awesome wrestlers over to Japan. Thanks. That is one of the main things I am always trying to achieve with my cards. Wizards over Animals actually reflects your influence, rainmaker. I was thinking about who JWA could use in a role the way the AWA is using Leo Burke right now. Animal Hamaguchi is a well-known trainer, having had a hand in bringing Kojima, Otani, and Naito along, among others.So, I thought he might be good for the role of helping bring our younger guys along in their careers as well. Inoue and Hoshino will be doing some of that as well. Sort of a mix of how you are using Burke now, and how the WWF used, say, Pedro Morales in the mid-80s. Thanks! Hot Property fit pretty well in the "heat up the crowd" opening match spot similar to how I use guys like Mutoh and Yamada (Liger) at this point in their careers. I imagine them working hard to win over the Korakuen Hall crowd. And Triple H did the job, too! I always think about what I would have liked to have seen myself, back in the tape trading days, when I'm putting my cards together... so I really appreciate that particular compliment.

Eternal youth? Not sure if you're trying to suggest that I'm "old" and out of touch. I'm really, really, really fucking sick of WWE car crash matches. *Shrug* With that said, this was a very good one. Not five-star good, though - IMO. I thought Meltz was very selective about what he gave five stars to, which makes this all the more shocking - especially with the legit five-star Gargano vs. Ciampa match on the same show (which he also rated five stars). 'Course, I'm not one to put much stock in his ratings to begin with - I'm just surprised. I am definitely old and out of touch and the only attention I pay to Dave Meltzer these days is what I read on here... That being said, it very much seems to me that Meltzer has discovered that there is money to be made in pandering to the younger generation of internet wrestling fans (to make a broad generalization: he's pandering to those fans who have recently discovered New Japan and the US indies and who have not yet grown tired of flashy moves and contrived spots - not too different from the kind of fans that we were maybe 15 or 20 years ago). Handing out high star ratings right and left seems to be his way of courting their approval. They are the "grade inflation" generation, and I figure that doling out extra-high grades to matches that are merely flashy or exciting is his way of playing to their sensibilities.

I like the Vachons going out as champs. I wish you'd used that opportunity to set up another tournament, though. I love tournaments I guess the JRMC will have to do...

The heel managers ripping on Schiavone was pretty funny. Cornette's "Well that was easy" cracked me up. Face Steiners joining the battle against The Assassin's crew makes things really interesting. Spring Spectacular just keeps heating up more and more.

Poor Rip Oliver. Shaved bald and out of a job. Face Butch Reed should be fun. Hawk, Animal, Brody, Hansen, Doc, and Barbarian brawling sounds awesome.

They are not even that. They are "independent contractors"

Wow! We are getting Hulk vs Flair right away! HUGE! Appreciate the Hulk's Japan shout-outs, too. Great write-up for Harts vs Fabs. That superplex would have been an epic moment. I hope Andre's arm will be OK