pantherwagner

I don't know what I'd rather see, Dick Togo in Japan facing all the top guys and having great matches or him touring South America motorcycle diaries style while facing random local guys and giving them the best match they will ever have.

Nak has shown to be much better at promos so far. Of course he has the advantage of not having to deliver reams of bad WWE writing too. They just have him hit the key points, which with his charisma make him look like the Rock compared to everyone else. Nakamura also has got size and just standing there he has got more presence than almost everybody in the company. Balor does not have those traits. I'm not a Balor fan. I hope he does well just to bring some variety to the main shows but unless he gets AJ type reactions he'll have a rough time.

I watch NXT on and off, today I have watched the last 3 episodes and I was coming to this thread to ask if Balor is always this bad at promos. I can see Vince looking at the size, the accent and the promos and giving him no chance at all.

Mir is out with a suspension. It's a shame because that's the name that makes the most sense. In fact it's the only name that makes sense. Mark Hunt is a terrible choice. Great takedown defense and punches like a beast. Other names being thrown around are Carwin or Fedor. Those two would make sense but they are not active UFC fighters. As for the rest of heavyweights freed up: Overeem is a no. Junior is a bad idea. Struve is out injured. Ben Rothwell is a lose-lose situation. I imagine WWE have got the right to approve who is Lesnar facing and they probably have somebody advising Vince on this. I am really interested in hearing the name being announced on Monday. Brock, whatever you want to say about him, is a competitor so he probably wouldn't want an easy name either. Josh Barnett is a name that makes the most sense out of the active roster. I believe Bigfoot is still out suspended, Mitrione has left so that leaves you with Roy Nelson as another viable option. The rest are guys with no name.

I saw somebody announcing WAVE's streaming service on twitter a few days ago: http://pro-w-wave.com/wave_network I know nothing about that promotion but boy does it look uninteresting.

Good to see somebody else from my hometown in PWO. I'd be very surprised if Katrina is ever brought to Stardom, let's put it that way. I'm not sure how was the UK crowd but the Spanish crowd had a few groups doing NXT/ROH duelling chants. I was told that Europe was a good experience for the three top Stardom girls because they never have the crowd chanting for their opponents unless they are facing each other.

I made it to the show in Barcelona. There was a Shirai vs KLR match that was pretty good for a short match. Hojo/Iwatani had a very good action match with the Owens Twins. Shirai vs Toni Storm in the tournament finals was good as well. Ogawa seems to be pleased with the tour so I expect them to come back next year.

Satanico as well. He looked out of place and didn't perform because of that. He's said in multiple times that those months were the most miserable months ever in his career. Pena never believed in the 80s concept of the Atlantis/Lizmark/Angel Azteca/Solar style babyface. Lizmark had a pretty good run there, though. Terri Power in All Japan women. The Rock and Roll Express in WWF has been mentioned but even on 1996 Nitro they looked like they had been teleported from another era. Ron Garvin had some fantastic matches in the WWF but it didn't feel right. On the other hand, nobody ever seemed to feel out of place in FMW, WAR or WWC.

Yeah this has been around for at least two decades from the few remaining tapes of the Benjamin Mora shows from Los Angeles. This upload is from the early 90s WWA TV where they mixed in 86-87 LA with early 90s Tijuana. I have somewhere a version of the original airing in Los Angeles but haven't been able to find anything else that isn't out there already.

When is that women's international tournament happening? They need to start getting new faces over or the momentum of the division in NXT is going to end soon. Asuka should be in the main roster, though I understand why she's not there yet. She's better than most people there, male or female. Getting Asuka and Bayley over on the main roster is going the ultimate test of the worth of the "creative team", though.

Tenryu is one of my five favourite Japanese wrestlers ever but his powerbomb is the shits. It's hard for me to watch modern matches where there are brutal head dropping moves. They seem unnecessary. I can still tolerate it in older matches even if it's not something that I enjoy anymore even if 15 years ago two of my favourite moves were the Michinoku Driver/Wagner Driver and the Guerrero style brainbuster.

When talking about multi-generational promoter families you forgot the Shinma's.

Casas vs Hechicero is a good example of why Casas is so underrated as a mat wrestler.

Satanico's senton from the apron to the floor.

it's spanish Super Delfin is the correct name as it's in Spanish but it was often mistranslated from Japanese katakana. Same reason why some people still call "a hilo" to a "tope con giro", that in Spanish quite literally means dive with a spin.

There will be another Lucha Libre show in London in two months. I'll probably go even if the lineup doesn't look all that exciting. There are two very good craft beer pubs nearby so that helps. THE GREATEST SPECTACLE OF LUCHA LIBRE FRIDAY 1ST & SATURDAY 2ND OF JULY 2016 YORK HALL, BETHNAL GREEN LONDON DOORS: 6.30PM / SHOW: 8PM Mexico’s iconic masked superheroes return to the UK to perform in “The Greatest Spectacle of Lucha Libre”, an electrifying two-day extravaganza at London’s York Hall in Bethnal Green on the Friday 1st & Saturday 2nd of July. The spectacles feature a stellar line-up featuring the mighty Silver King (aka Ramses in the film Nacho Libre), international wrestling star Juventud ‘Juvi’ Guerrera, Brazilian capoeira masked luchador Zumbi, high-flying luchador Cielito, El Paso’s magnificent Magno as well as Mexico’s female stars Lady Apache and Chika Tormenta, plus the UK’s own Lucha Libre stars, the heroes of ‘Lucha Britannia’ that feature the exótico Cassius and the incredible Pure Britannico amongst others. London’s famous York Hall will be transformed into a Mexican Arena with a retro and futuristic style, transporting audiences to a timeless era where legends and new lucha stars battle in epic live confrontations of Good vs. Evil.

I have got this in the background while I am doing work and I am really enjoying the back and forth and the two very different viewpoints. However, Dylan, you have quoted about a tenth of your picks as being "maybe the most controversial". I think they are alright!

I thought he was married to a non wrestling daughter of Pirata Moreno.

CMLL guys in the 90s would easily get 10-12 bookings a week. That was mostly limited to the big stars, though, it's not like there was demand to see Cachorro Mendoza or Mogur several times a day. Somebody like Dandy or Atlantis could get as many bookings as they wanted while a Ringo Mendoza or Javier Cruz could get a couple of shots.

It might not've been bullshit at certain times. I've heard from lots of different guys that the central Mexican promotions in the early 90s ran an insane number of shows, frequently running Arena Mexico multiple times in the same day. Pull up Chris Jericho's Cagematch profile, and a quick glance shows that his first three CMLL matches were all in the same building on the same day. Looking at Vampiro's match list, sometimes he worked for multiple different promotions on the same day. Double and triple shots on Saturdays and Sundays have been a tradition for decades and during the early 90s guys like Vampiro, Konnan, Perro Aguayo or Octagon would have drivers taking them to the arenas where they would get in, wrestle and get out immediately. I don't have results right in front of me but I have seen examples of guys wrestling four times a day. There used to be so many shows in a 80 mile radius that this was completely possible. In the 70s guys like like Dr. Wagner, Rene Guajardo and El Solitario would do double and triple shots all the time and often were temporarily suspended by the commission because they'd wrestle short 7-8 minute matches (back when that was NOT acceptable) completely dogging it to get to the next arena ASAP.

I have only listened to the rant so far but Brian calling Lance Storm a cunty man was tremendous. A few episodes with Cornette and even guy in charge of anger management starts ranting.

Man, of all the cool/weird/wacky Pillman tag team ideas from the late 80s/early 90s (Prichard and Konnan) he ended up with the freaking Z Man. I love the dun dun dun, it cracks me almost every time.

I know that you are looking for older commercials, but this recent one from Spain is fantastic and this is my excuse to put it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dk73rejKQc Here are 7 mins of Japanese commercials. Most aren't very good but some are wacky so it's worth a scan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ofHQX6lV_M Here's a wacky Giant Baba one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sWQ3X2r83o

I could be wrong here as it has been a really long time but the way I remember the Takako story is that he was overly charming in telling her that he looked like she was in her early 20s, but fully well knowing that was not true. So in a way the story was highlighting how smooth he could be but in reality being quite ruthless. Besides, we all know he only had eyes for Motoko (dun dun DUN!!!!!).

It came across to me as a weird speech at first, but only because it was delivered by an actual human being and someone wholly outside the wrestling bubble. You could tell she was more bemused by her dad's crazy career than anything else. There was a bit of affection for wrestling but none of the reverence you got from the rest of the speeches (even Dana Warrior is "all in" now), and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Dana is exactly how you'd imagine Warrior's wife would be. Attractive, physically very fit and a strong minded woman but half batshit crazy sounding.