Dylan Waco

Seemed like an obvious work to me as it was happening but I guess you never know with this company

Henry is god. Is Bryan's injury legit?

Yep it was fun for the couple of minutes they got. That butterfly suplex escape spot was fucking insane

I liked Okada v. Suzuki but thought it was disappointing. This is what I wrote at WKO after I saw it: "In a way this was worse than I expected as I'm still clinging to the hope that Okada isn't as shitty as Tanahashi and yet the Suzuki carry job here wasn't nearly at the level of the Tanahashi carry job. There was also some really goofy Okada shit in this. On the other hand pretty much all of Suzuki's offense in this after the cross armbreaker over the ropes was really good. Okada had the sense not to use his arm on every offensive comeback here, which is good because Suzuki was really breaking shit down here. I liked most of the stuff with the sleeper too, including the long spot, though I thought Suzuki's facial expressions sort of crossed the line form intense into comical. I also enjoyed the exchanges around the Gotch piledriver and the finish was better than I would have guessed." I still think Sak v. Nak is easily the best NJPW match of the year.

Any other matches you haven't seen that you'd like to pass comment on? Sure, your ability to troll in a shitty fashion v. my ability to give a fuck, was a pretty weak addition to the card.

NWA SAW Gathering of Champions Hot Rod Biggs/Lance Erickson v. Jason Nation/LBK Fair warning to anyone following along, SAW has the absolute worst color commentator I've ever heard. If I'm not mistaken the guys name is Nick Nitris and he's basically the world's most annoying, redneck version of Don West. I myself was a pretty big fan of Don West and tend to think that TNA has been unwatchable trash on a week-to-week basis since he left (really since before he left, but heel West was entertaining enough where I would watch otherwise awful shows to listen to him shit on Tenay and point out the stupidity of TNA angles). Nitris has all of the volume and intensity of West, but absolutely none of the charm and no sense of scale. He's constantly playing to the top of the bleachers in the SAWmill instead of trying to convince the front row and the result is something so awful that it can make otherwise very solid wrestling, feel really tedious. He was shit during this match, but really there was no way anyone was going to make this any good. Over the last few years I doubt there are many non-Tennessee residents who have followed Tennessee indies as closely/regularly as I have and this match was filled with a who's who of no talent Tennessee and surrounding area indie guys. The only one of these guys I've seen do anything decent in the last couple of years is Erickson who has a couple of decent spots and was carried to a good tv match by Shaun Tempers in some weird storefront that NWA Mountain State was running last year. LBK literally looks like the bastard son of Mr. Donnie (this reminds me, KrisZ or someone needs to post a pic of him so I can upload it as my new avatar). Not bastard as in "illegitimate," though we are talking about Tommy Rich's coke hook up so really that's implied as well, but bastard as in complete low life, who didn't live up to dad's expectations. All dad wanted for Donnie Jr. was for him to open up a respectable chapter of the Outlaws in Kingsport and settle down with a nice harem of white slave trade girls, while keeping the family dope business going. Instead LBK started going to raves ten years after their cultural relevance expired, got a shitty tattoo, and worse yet started hanging out with Jason Nation, who may or may not be working a Jason Knight tribute gimmick and who may or may not be pimping LBK out to his friends back in Knoxville in exchange for meth. LBK does throw a good dropkick in this, but otherwise this match was short and stupid, that Erickson who may or may not be working a TNA Team Canada tribute gimmick (actually I think "may" is the clear answer here) won with a pinfall. Post-match Biggs hits people with a stop sign that looks like a giant stop sign pin, which I would normally fear was some weird ironic, Chikara inspired, hipster thing, but in this case I think it's just that Biggs may or may not be working a Broad Street Bully tribute gimmick. And to think I thought Pretty Boy Chuck Simms was rich. In any case this is why I shouldn't write about wrestling at 4:30 AM, after having only slept three hours in the last two days. Next up is an in ring promo with Damien Wayne setting up his Cage Match v. Vordell Walker for the National Title. This is actually a pretty effective promo as Wayne is a good heel, with who has really strong heel mannerisms at all times including when holding a mic and addressing a crowd. He runs down his history with Vordell and all of Walker's failures to beat him for titles. Nick Nitris interjects and he's stupid as always, but this sort of has the feel of an old NWA promo with Nitro as a really poor man's Crockett and Wayne as a Horseman, as Wayne goes on to point out that he wants an NWA title shot against Rob Conway in the future. Then Nitro calls out Walker and they have a face off. Pretty effective way to set up for the big cage match coming later on the show. Josephus Brody/Shane Williams v. Kevin Weatherby/Justin Grandbery I used all of my shitty tribute gimmick jokes on the last match which is a shame because Brody and Shane Williams are probably the two most egregious examples of guys working tribute gimmicks on the modern indies, though Williams was recently stripped of his King title by Wolfie D and is now wrestling in jeans and a sleeveless shirt, so I suppose he is leaving the Lawler schtick behind. This is worked as young guns v. vets tag and was actually a pretty effective match. Grandberry is barely trained and it shows, but he is kept well hidden. Weatherby sort of looks and wrestles like Barry Houston, but the real star of this is Williams who does a good job making Weatherby's stuff look good and straddling the fence between overconfident douche and befuddled jackass. He busts out a really sick brainbuster at one point and ends up getting the win after a really sad looking run of offense by Grandberry that needed to be cut down in even shorter order than it was. Still this was pretty decent. Wolfie D v. Chris Michaels If people haven't seen 2013 Wolfie D they need to. I don't mean to say that he's out of this world as a worker or anything like that, but watching him work as a big man, with strange glam rock/early metal inspired gimmick is something. SAW has some really talented wrestlers and these guys are among them, but it has been riddled with Russoesque, crazed over booking all year and this match is basically strangled in the grave because of that. These are two guys that could have a very good match, instead we get one good Michaels bump, a few strike exchanges, then some interference from Michaels seconds that leads to a stupid finishing run. Wolfie wins and then there is more bullshit post-match. This sort of shit happens on their tv every week. I swear if I didn't know better I would think Russo was booking this fed. Vordell Walker v. Damien Wayne Again this is a Cage Match for the NWA National Title. These are also two of the better workers on the indie scene today and two guys how have had very good matches with each other before. This is not just a cage match for the sake of a cage match as their last match ended in a SAW style clusterfuck with multiple ref bumps and Walker getting screwed. I was pretty excited for this coming in, but my thought was these guys would have been better off having a street fight like their NWA DAWG match from a few years back. I do think the cage limited them some, because it sort of ran against both guys natural instincts. Still after an opening segment that I thought was technically fine, but felt sort of odd in the setting, this got really good. It was almost like they were working out the kinks a little on the front end, and once they went to the violent chops it kicked into another gear. Wayne ended up bleeding and this sort of turned into a bomb throwing "who can survive with their life" type of match. Wayne took some great bumps for Walkers offense in this and I liked Walker's full body selling down the stretch as he looked like a guy who was on the verge of being crippled the longer the match went. Wayne busted out the big elbow off the top, a really murderous clothesline off the ropes and a legdrop with Walker in the tree of woe position which looked pretty sick. Also thought the brainbuster/piledriver stuff down the stretch was really excellent and a great way to set up the finish which saw Wayne go for a rafter assisted leg drop and miss it setting up for the big title switch. Post-match they did a good job making the title win out to be a huge moment in the career of Walker, with Wayne calling off the dogs from beating him down, congratulations from some NWA board member and a fiery promo from Walker. I liked this a lot. Rob Conway v. Chase Stevens As soon as I heard them say this match had a thirty minute time limit I knew they were going broadway, or whatever the hell you want to call a thirty minute draw. Sure enough they start with some standard NWA title match matwork and you pretty much no the drill from there. To be honest I have been pretty impressed with Conway as traveling champ. It is sort of odd to think of the non-French guy from La Resistance working as modern day version of Ric Flair, but that's pretty much exactly how this was modeled from the frustration of Conway, to the way the tempo changes were worked to the legwork and figure-four attack on Stevens. I have been pretty high on Stevens for years and I was impressed with him for a big chunk of this, particularly his punching comeback off the legwork, but man it sucked to see him go full blown Shawn Michaels on me with the nip up counter right before the finish, which was a big "fuck you" to the entire theme of the match. Having said that I thought this was a pretty impressive effort all things considered, as you could easily see this being a disaster on paper and while it had some uninteresting moments at no point was I bored or just begging for the finish. Not sure about two consecutive post-matches being built around "I respect you man!" mic work between opponents but what can you do. Overall Thoughts: It's possible they ran one or two other matches that weren't taped, but for a five match show this was pretty good. Still with some very mild adjustments (better opener, no bullshit in the Michaels/Wolfie match) this could have been really high end stuff so in a weird way it felt like a disappointment. For those who want to watch it, here is the link.

There are a lot of WWE tag wrestlers I like

Well I have to disagree on that. Don't think I've seen a memorable Cesaro match this year, but I can name nine or ten fantastic Bryan matches. Many of them were tags, but he was usually the MVP. As an overall worker there just isn't anyone better right now - versatile, likable, exciting and charismatic. The guy has made Kane interesting, which is an absolute miracle. Cesaro is technically good but there is no reason to care about what he does, nothing to make the matches especially compelling or meaningful. They are just exhibitions. Bryan gets you emotionally invested, he makes you care. Think we might as well agree to disagree anyway, people were pimping Finlay as best in the world a few years back, and all I could see was a bunch of enjoyable, entertaining, competent but essentially inconsequential matches. I care about Cesaro matches more than I care about Bryan matches. I care about Bryan's character more than I care about Cesaro's but that has little to do with Cesaro. There have been plenty of good Cesaro matches this year, but not as many people watch Main Event and he's not been pushed at all after about Feb/March or so. Not only that but Cesaro has been paired with absolute dogshit for the bulk of the year. I'd argue it is VASTLY easier to work Mark Briscoe's gimmick, even with a partner as middling/weak as Kane v. guys like The Shield than it is to have lengthy good/great matches with guys like The fucking Miz, blackhole Randy Orton and Kofi Kingston. This isn't a knock on Bryan who I think has been great especially for the last two months or so. I just think Cesaro has clearly been better and working at far higher degree of difficulty (i.e. more time in the ring, shittier opponents, weaker storylines, et).

How so? Comedic, over the top, heel bumping style and a look that sort of oozes douchebag. I'm not saying he wont' make a good face, I just think it's a gamble

Nah, no way. In ring you could make a tenuous argument that Cesaro runs him slightly close, but as an overall worker taking in character work, promos, charisma, getting yourself over, presence and excitement Bryan beats him hands down. DB is also a ton more versatile, he can play any role and make it believable. He can do comedy, drama, fired up ace, face in peril, high flyer, technical worker, brawler. Cesaro is more limited from what I've seen of his work over the years. I think people like him because he works that believable, interesting style that Finlay and others worked, but it is pretty fanciful to say he is in Bryan's league right now. Punk/Jericho wasn't anything like a match of the year, if only because it was so obviously laid out like something meant to resemble a 'great match'. That lost it any spontaneity, it was all fairly predictable. Reminded me a lot of something like Owen/HBK from In Your House early in 1996 - fun match where both guys got their stuff in, nothing more. I'm not talking about over the years and in general I was indifferent at best towards Claudio as an indie guy. But this year, in ring, he's better than Bryan. Bryan has had a hot angle behind him and has run with it to his credit. But getting a rush hot tag, where he gets to hit crazy offense for three minutes and then take one big bump is not even in the same universe as carrying Kofi Kingston to a great 20-25 minute match. Bryan is a better over all act for sure and I have no doubt once he starts working more singles he could (and perhaps will) be right there with Cesaro. But Cesaro has been better in the ring this year.

I only saw the last few minutes of Jericho v. Punk. Seemed decent, but hardly anything in the universe of MOTY. But it had some back and fourth and a hot crowd and that's basically Meltzer's thing. I enjoyed the tag. Thought it was a good match. But wasn't overwhelmed by it or anything.

Cesaro is a better wrestler than Bryan right now, but Bryan has been booked in a place where he gets more face time and has a bigger impact.

Del Rio's face turn was brutally murdered because of the Swagger stuff. He started off hot after the Show feud, but they just butchered him to death with the direction they went. Real shame because he's been a very good worker this year largely because of changes he's made to work face. I can't envision any scenario where he will half the worker as a heel that he has been as a face. Also while I know Ziggler is a beloved dude for many, he seems like a transparently awful face on paper.

I agree that they sold the moment really well, but I didn't even think it was the best match on the show.

Really enjoyed the SD match as it was a real slugfest of a match which is something we rarely get out of U.S. heavies. Still prefer Main Event match by a safe margin, but that's hardly a knock on Cesaro v. Sheamus II. Cesaro is the best guy in the world right now

Hell if we are tossing out recs, Sheamus v. Cesaro from last weeks main event is the best main roster WWE match I've seen all year (still think Regal v. Ohno from NXT is the best).

They had one of their announcers constantly harping about how they were unbeaten and might never lose as a unit. We can argue about how big a part of their act being undefeated as a unit was, but there is no question it came up often during their matches. There may be a good argument for having them lose now and for Bryan being the one to do it, but on an unpromoted SD right before a ppv it feels like a massive waste.

Two problems here: 1. I don't know what you have watched so hard to recommend based on that alone. 2. You and I have radically different tastes. You are someone who thinks Bret Hart was a wrestling genius, I think he was a very good wrestler, who had periods of greatness, but is generally overrated by those who grew up on him. You are someone who thinks Okada/Tanashashi title change was a great match and MOTY. I thought it was probably the worst match on the show it was on, albeit better than I had feared coming in. So our starting points are pretty different That said.... I don't think Sami is a particularly big "fighting spirit no-selling" guy. To be fair I have certainly seen Callihan matches where that sort of thing may emerge, but it's not a dominate theme. It's not like he's a modern Japanese favorite or Davey Richards or Eddie Edwards for example. Same can be said on chops and lariats. Does he use them? Sure. Is he working five-ten minutes worth of strike exchanges? No. Also I have no real problem with thigh-slapping as a rule. Greatly prefer it to dogshit that looks and sounds completely ineffective like for example every offensive move Tanahashi has ever executed. I am a guy who is a pretty big fan of guys on indies who have a formula they can work, with enough deviations where things don't feel stale match-to-match. Sami is a guy who had that down. I also generally like indie guys who work their spotfests in a sprint fashion, which is something he also does well. Generally like guys who have a sense of timing/pacing and how to escalate a match. I think Callihan does that really well. In any event I'm not really surprised you aren't a fan as I generally start from the assumption that you and I will not agree on wrestling and work from there. But if you can list the matches you watched where you thought he looked bad, I'm willing to play along/advocate for others.

This is literally Bischoffian. We can argue about whether or not it's wrong or right, but your argument is straight out of ATM Eric's playbook

Would also note that Robert was a really good heel when asked to be a heel

El Ligero - Works a sort of flier gimmick. Hit or miss. At times he looks really sharp and he has a distinct (but indy) look. Sha Samuels - Decent, I've seen him carried to solid matches by better wrestlers.

There is nothing wrong with watching different feds expecting/looking for different things. I think we all do that. But I don't subscribe to the theory that you can't judge work by a universal standard. Was Hennig effective? Well he is well remembered by many (though I have to say I'm not entirely sure what the term "mainstream" fan means), but he wasn't a drawing card...ever. I was and am a big fan of the Perfect gimmick and try to always mention that when I note the fact that his work was clearly weaker for it. I basically agree with Tom's point about how he worked, though I would say he was a fairly unique bumper, for whatever that is worth.

The thing about Curt is that he WAS adaptable but it just feels like his comfort zone was so far away from the best he was capable of. That 10 minute brawl with Hansen is the only match I've even considered for my #1 on the AWA ballot. I love Hennig in that match, he comes across as such an ass kicker. But you very rarely see that Curt, even while he was babyface in AWA. After watching the AWA set I am honestly not that high on Curt Hennig. There's too much stuff to make you realize how much better he could have been. That Hansen brawl is my number 2 I think this is an interesting take, because I haven't heard anyone else express this opinion. I am wondering if anyone else feels this way. Also interested to hear more about why you think Curt was so weak in the AWA

Completely idiotic to do that on a random episode of SD.

Brown went on hiatus for "family issues" and was released months later before retiring. Before all that he was part of the New Breed vs Originals feud and was as featured as any other young wrestler on ECW at the time. Which is to say "not much."