Dylan Waco

I agree with parts of the post overall, but as to the bolded part, I'm not as down on 2010 as others. I think most Japanese wrestling is trash even though I try to follow it with some degree of regularity. And in general I think indy wrestling has degenerated dramatically. But WWE continues to regularly put out high quality matches that are equal to or great than stuff from the mid-90's WWF. And IWRG has by all accounts had an incredible year.

Meltzer is a guy I have NEVER read because of how he looks/talks about matches. In truth I have never had a sub to the Observer, though I lived with/next to someone who has had one for almost twenty years and read it religiously for several years - but it was never about the matches. As I've said before, when I first subscribed to the Torch in late-95 it was the Monday Night Wars that got me to plunk down cash as a fourteen year old, but it was John's writing about AJPW and other Japanese promotions that kept me around.

Cena v Taker is the last big Taker at Mania match they have.

I guess that's my problem, all the good stuff seems to be on SuperStars that while I DVR it I don't always watch it. It just gets frustrating to watch guys you know WWE will never get behind, so I guess it's a defense mechanism to not want to start getting into a guy who could be endeavored at any time. He's a Superstars All-Star. He did have a really good four minute match with Dolph on SD and a good match with Orton on Raw in Jan. Both worked totally differently

Masters hasn't had a bad tv match this year. Pick any match. I think the best have been against Chavo, Dolph and Gallows. Not that you care.

Actually I was the first one to be pimping Masters this year, but that breaks up the "Phil sets the table that others eat at" narrative.

Take a shitload of pain pills. It might help you decipher Hardy speak

DVDVR poster As I told him at the time, his comment proved my point for me - It's a Wonderful Life was critically panned and a box office bomb upon it's initial release in 1946. It wasn't until the 70's that the tide of critical and public opinion started to turn in it's favor. Am I a bandwagon jumper because I think It's a Wonderful Life is one of the best movies of all time? Isn't that Ganc?

More proof that anything more than "flips r kewl" is above your head.

Dont feed the troll. Ive never never known you to be this transparent. Normally your troll attempts are wrapped in "limb selling" and "believable strikes." Yes by saying this I clearly think all movez and flipz are good and you guys all meet up secretly to discuss the next wrestler du jour. More level headed analysis from rovert. Best part about this is I don't know that I have ever used the terms "believable strikes" or "limb selling." The difference between me and a functional illiterate like rovert is that I can and will illustrate why I think a wrestler is good/bad/whatever. I don't know that I've ever seen rovert tell me why he thinks one of the "wrestler du jour" candidates sucks. Instead it's "lol these guys who like wrestlers other than those that have historically been deemed as great are trolling contrarian douchebags!" Shitty gimmick posting like that deserves a "flipz are kewl rejoinder." I also have no clue how liking Mark Henry has anything to do with being "anti-MOVEZ." I also don't think an "anti-MOVEZ" trend exist. As it happens I recently watched a shit load of 08 Mark Henry and almost the totality of Jerry Lynn's ECW run. And while Lynn came off better than I had expected coming in, I think 08 Henry smokes Lynn from that era. And it has zilch to do with MOVEZ.

Where is the trend? Showcase the anti-Movez bias in concrete terms. Replace Singh with Bob Holly if you want. Point doesn't change.

So, not even everybody who watched the set agree with your point? That's my point. It's entirely possible for two different people to watch some footage and take away two completely different opinions. You're implying that anyone who watched this set would automatically feel the same way you do about it. "If he had watched the set, then he'd naturally cool down on Sayama" seems to be the gist of your argument. He might indeed have that reaction if he watched it, but then again he might not. Hey, weren't you the guy who once told me that Hollywood Hogan never had shitty matches in WCW, even the celebrity matches were awesome, and that in fact the only good matches Kidman ever had were with Hogan? Haven't you had to put up with plenty of online shit, holding an opinion like that? You're hardly a stranger to odd attitudes which don't jibe with the group consensus. I never said Hollywood Hogan never had shitty matches. I said that their really weren't that many that were outright terrible and I remember thinking the basketball player tag was pretty decent. Point about Sayama is that I literally can not imagine anyone watching the NJPW set and thinking "here is a guy that was an awesome wrestler." I don't think that makes me intolerant or narrow minded. It merely means I have an opinion - an opinion that happens to be informed by watching the set. Of course it is possible for people to think Sayama was tremendously great and that the set backed that up. Just as it is possible to think Tiger Jeet Singh is the greatest wrestler who ever lived. But neither point of view is something that I can comprehend. The "DVDVR GUYS ARE ANTI-MOVEZ" is really a stupid talking point that means nothing. My favorite guy in the World to watch is Chico Che - a guy who is awesome in large part because of his "MOVEZ." Freelance was probably my favorite guy to watch last year and I still freak out when he has popped up this year. He's probably the most dynamic highspot wrestler on Earth. I think Rey Misterio was the best wrestler of the last decade, another guy who is hardly known for his anti-MOVEZ wrestling style. Of the stuff I've been watching a lot of recently Too Cold Scorpio and Tajiri have been two of the big standouts - Scorp is one of the most innovative "MOVEZ" guys in history and Tajiri had one of the more versatile and well executed big time movesets of anyone on Earth in the era he worked in. So if I'm anti-MOVEZ I've chosen some strange favorites. What I do not care for is psychology-less, no selling, no heat building, stunt shows, that build to nothing and feature needlessly long nearfall trains just so guys can get their shit in. Even there maches will occasionally click with me from that style - Briscoes v. Teddy Hart/Jack Evans from JAPW anniversary show being a good pretty recent example - but for the most part it is a senseless style that I find incredibly boring and unimpressive. My personal opinion of Sayama has nothing to do with being anti-MOVEZ. It has to do with being anti-shitty wrestling.

Why not? Different people like different shit. For example, I thought Aliens vs Predator: Requiem was far superior to the first Alien vs Predator movie, but unfortunately I seem to be in the minority on that one. Everyone has some really strange opinions on something which don't line up with those of the mainstream. And why is your first instinctive response "did he actually watch the set?" When you hear an opinion you disagree with, don't immediately assume that the person must be speaking out of ignorance. Especially since Tiger Mask is a guy who is still rated highly by plenty of people, especially wrestlers. I know there's been a modern ubersmark backlash against him, but those TM/DK matches are still beloved by a whole shitload of people. Well aware that people like different shit and don't really need a lecture on that from you. My point was that as someone who watched the set, TM is not a guy who came out living up to his previous rep. This has nothing to do with being an ubersmark. It has to do with watching the matches. My little brother is hardly an "ubersmark" - much less so than you or I at the very least - and he thought TM was even worse on the set than I did. Bix is right. It's not just that he blows spots, has no psych, seems to get lost in the middle of stuff, et. it's that even in the areas where he was supposed to be a revolutionary, i.e. insane speed, doing new crazy shit, et. he is totally destroyed by Hamada. This is hardly my opinion alone. The vast majority of people who participated in that set seemed to be at best indifferent to Sayama.

For the record I have nothing against Stern personally and I know that he is a guy that watches older stuff (in fact if I'm not mistaken that's practically all he watches). I just can't really believe anyone could watch that NJPW footage and come away thinking "Tiger Mask more than lives up to the hype." I mean I"m not a fan of Dyno really but I can see what people would like about Dyno. Same with Inoki. But TM? ftr over the years I've come to share his opinion of Adonis, or at least I'm somewhat sympathetic to it.

Actually that's an interesting question - has Stern watched any of the sets? Presumably not since we are hipster douchebags for even engaging in such things. On the other hand calling yourself "dragon king" karl and having spent the last thirty years writing exclusively about wrestling is above criticism or so I would imagine.

I honestly don't see how anyone who watched that set could think Tiger Mask was anything special after viewing it.

Yeah I think Rocco in general is the wrong horse for the UK guys to get behind.

You forgot the advent of the National Security State and tv murdering the American novel

It's important to remember that Beast is dumber than dog shit.

There were multiple good Khali matches that year. It's pretty hilarious how terrible Bryan Dave's opinions on wrestling are.

Daniel Bryan has been readded to the Raw superstars page which was updated tonight as the woman's title change was also acknowledged