Dylan Waco

I don't quite understand the scoring rubric. N: Nuance (Longevity, Flexibility, Intangibles) J: Jump Up Factor (Memorable Peak Matches, Moments and Storylines) P: Promo Skills & Character Work W: Workrate Setting aside whether I like the idea of an official rubric in the first place, how are we supposed to measure these things? Are we just considering these factors or are we assigning them numbers? I rarely go on FB so the discussions there will have very little utility for me. That said I'm still interested in voting unless there is some really rigid guideline for applying that rubric that I don't understand.

Didn't care for Roode v Itami much at all and I'm kind of mystified at people saying it was better than either Roode v Nakamura match. I could see preferring it to the Mania Takeover match, but the San Antonio match was vastly better in my eyes. I thought Dunne v Bate was brilliant. Probably as well paced a 15 minute title match as I've ever seen. These two have incredible chemistry and are all time great rivals. In terms of pace, build and psychology it reminded me some of Rey v Eddie from HH 97. Young v Roddy inoffensive but way, way too long and for no good reason. The women's match was kind of a mess, though I didn't hate. Asuka and Riot had no chemistry which I found incredibly odd. AOP v DIY was good, but I didn't love it. Fun spot heavy match with some nice dramatic moments and visual spots, but I actually think both teams are far more suited for a traditional tag structure. I will say that it felt like the end of an era for the NXT tag teams which really had taken the spot from the women as the anchor of the show. for that reason I thought it deserved to main event. I'm assuming the UK guys will be the next dominant project on NXT and expect to see a UK title match main event a Takeover in the next 12 months. The turn was great and well done, but a part of me wishes DIY had gone longer. Both guys really found themselves in that team, and they out together a tremendous resume of high end matches for a unit that didn't even last 2 full years. Over all I thought the show was carried by the brilliant Dunne v Bate match (easily my WWE MOTY) and the closing angle. Those highs were so strong I can see calling it a great show, but if I was measuring based on percentage of good on the show this might be my least favorite Takeover ever. A good event overall

I'm not the biggest booster of Cody to put it mildly. But promoters are desperate to book him for a reason - he is a draw. I think whether he is worth the money or terms of booking him is a separate question and varies from promotion to promotion. Also APW was doing huge crowds at a school gym before the decision to run the Cow Palace. I was at a previous APW show late last year where Cody v Joey Ryan was the big attraction match and they drew a legit SRO only sellout (they let me and my girlfriend in for half price because they had no seats left to sell and starting turning people away right after we came in) that was probably somewhere between 750-900 people.

I was at Mercury Rising. The house was poor in comparison to other shows in the venue but there were way more than 200 people in attendance. More than double that in fact

Chip v Trevor was master class. Genius match. My current MOTY. Sorry I didn't meet you at the show, unless I did and you were the person I briefly talked to about Cain v Dom. The tournament ruled. Night one was very good, with Lynch Mob v Carnies stealing the show. CWF is the best promotion on earth.

I'll be at that show why my GF and dad. Come say hello

Actually looking at Chris Harrington's study a while back, I seem to recall that Reigns house show main events were above the mean and strong relative to other guys in those spots.

The degree to which crowds hate Roman is kind of overplayed. I was at the Rumble live. I had friends all over the building. After the show we all shared our similar experience which was being in a section where the majority of people were cheering for Reigns, but the loudest people in the section were Reigns haters. I suspect this is not an uncommon situation. At this point the logical thing to do is to have Brock beat Goldberg and Reigns beat Taker and do Reigns v. Brock for the title in New Orleans. We can debate up and down whether there are better options for the top guy than Roman, and I still strongly believe he's been sabotaged time after time, but the story is there. If Roman wins he's only the second guy to beat Taker at Mania. The other is Brock. If Brock wins he can retain the title all year on five or six defenses and people will tolerate it because Brock always gets a pass no one else gets. Reigns can play up that he had Brock on the ropes and would have beat him at Mania if not for Seth Rollins. Literally the only reason to have Taker go over at this point would be to protect Taker a bit for a Taker v. Cena match at next years Mania, but really Reigns going under still doesn't make sense. For all the hand wringing about Braun losing to Reigns (full disclosure - I wouldn't have done the match before Mania and think the shittiest thing about Mania is Braun not having a proper match on the card), him losing to Taker at Mania would have been far, far worse. At least Reigns is a full time talent and he was reasonably protected in defeat. Post-streak ending a Taker loss at Mania ain't what it used to be.

This sort of thing is a staple of Charlotte matches. It's a thing to praise her now because she has improved in many ways as a character, but almost every major Charlotte match over the last year has seen her sandbag, base poorly, or awkwardly take/be out of a position on a signature spot.

The end of an era. The hits keep coming, the world still turns. Peace to a classic of the genre.

I voted for the 80s but don't feel super strongly about it one way or the other. If the 2010's continue as they are, and were over, I'd have considered it at least.

Chikara airball was my fault, And I mention it a bit toward the end of the show

Actually they changed both of their matches all together, and Dunne's will be dark but Riddle's won't be (now against Ryan Smile). I think it's worth noting that IPW might not be on the approved indie list.

If you haven't watched the final episode of CWF's BattleCade I would strongly advise it. Two completely different and excellent matches in Arik Royal v. Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee v. Brad Attitude. There is a bit of a split over the finish of Attitude v. Lee with some loving it and some thinking it didn't work that I'd love to see people's thoughts on here. Johnny P put together a great video covering the Lee/Attitude feud (my feud of the year last year) which helps with some of the context for those who want to make the full investment.

The price point deal is an interesting one to be sure. As for my other comment, I believe OTT on Flo was a test run for OTT eventually moving to The Network. I have my reasons for believing this, but let's not forget there is WWE money invested into Flo, WWE has kept it's relationship with Evolve despite the fact that Flo is theoretically competition for The Network, and we know of at least one WWN contract that is written to allow for an out whenever the WWE comes calling.

I would take that position a lot more seriously if you weren't someone who has often tried to sleuth out details about wrestling history that are at least as difficult to ascertain as the facts of the case in question appear to be or if you were providing some sort of counter narrative other than "well, he wasn't convicted." A few years ago I sat on a jury for a rape trial in South Carolina. As it turned out the case was my worst nightmare as it was fairly obvious that the person charged was guilty of some sort of sexual assault against the victim BUT it was clear that the theory of the case was completely wrong and multiple police officers perjured themselves on the stand in order to prop up the totally unbelievable theory. We deliberated on the case for days, but ultimately could not come to any conclusion - the jury was split 7-5 for conviction the minute we went into the room, and was deadlocked at 7-5 the minute we left. I don't think a single person in the room thought the person charged was innocent, or that the victim wasn't in fact the victim. The issue was the presentation of the case. A guilty man went free, even though we all knew he was guilty. It happens.

The evidence is out there and was outlined by Bix. You didn't dispute it with any counter evidence. If you choose to not care, or choose faith that is your choice.

The Snuka tribute deal was complicated by the fact that his daughter is a member of the WWE roster and he was considered an extended family member of their WWE's biggest mainstream tie. I agree that it makes the WWE look bad to those who know the full details - and I suspect there are a much larger number of those people out there than the WWE realizes - but I fully expected it. It doesn't play well, and I think Parv does himself no favors to be going on about virtue signaling in a case where a person was killed.

I was at the latest round of television tapings, and while I don't want to dismiss Tim's personal aversion to the idea of Dalton Castle as champ or top challenger, it's abundantly clear he's the most over person on the roster. I myself am a bit of a moderate on Castle. I enjoy him, think he's a unique act in a company that desperately needs them, and think he is a good (at times very good) wrestler. On the other hand he's never translated to me as a tip top guy, and the people who are blown away by him as a talent have never been able to convince me that he's all that special. Having said that when you look at the landscape of ROH, it's hard to see who would be a better pick to win the title that isn't a tired retread, an overexposed act, or someone who is even more niche or problematic. The fact is that the roster is a sea of guy who are either entrenched figures with the company that aren't going anywhere but have basically run out of fresh things to do, or guys who have a limited shelf life with the company not because they all want to go to the WWE, but because they don't want to be locked in with ROH. I myself have no problem with the idea of Daniels winning the title, and think he's preferable to Cole who is a dead letter, but it would feel like a stand pat move at best and I don't think that's good for ROH at this point. I could live with Fish even though I think he's got a bridesmaid vibe that is going to be hard to escape and he's not exactly a youth movement candidate. You have guys like Rowe, Hanson and Dijak who could be on the way out at any minute (I can't imagine Dijak will be long for the company if the Beyond ban holds). Cabana, Lethal, The Briscoes, Whitmer, Sabin, Shelley and Kazarian who all feel like old hat, and have really done everything there is for them to do with the promotion (you could really say the same thing for Fish and Daniels but I'm being generous). Rush, Ospreay, Scurll and Dragon Lee who all have either unique contracts that allow for opt outs, have been desperate to leave in the past, or could be called home at any point. I personally like The Rebellion and Kingdom in their spots, but I can't imagine anyone advocating a title run for any of them, and it would almost certainly be rejected. Shane Taylor and Punishiment Martinez could be groomed I guess, but they would be radical departures from the ROH norm as champ, and they certainly aren't ready. Silas Young and Adam Page are there I guess, but they'd need to be elevated before anyone could buy a title run. No one wants to see Beer City Bruiser or Bull James with the belt, and I only I want to see Cheeseburger with it. I guess they could strap Cody but god help us if they do. I think the idea that the company can't get talent in or retain them because of the WWE is kind of amusing. The amount of fresh, interesting, independent talent who want to work there and would likely sign long deals is very large. The issue is that ROH would rather run camps and make cash off of that then bring people in with organic buzz, or utilize the guys they do bring in in effective ways. They occasionally debut guys with a big impact, but because their shows are taped the impact is almost always lessened. You don't have to believe guys like ACH, Dijak, Cedric, Rush, et. were all top guys to recognize that they weren't used terribly effectively. ROH has had first and best crack at guys like Gresham and Kincaid and has done nothing with them. Riddle used to train at the ROH dojo which is something almost no one talks about. The issues with best utilizing talent, scouting, et. are so obvious that it's hard to take seriously any argument that dismisses them. One act I don't think you can let off the hook is The Young Bucks. Yes they are huge draws and wildly over, but they serve to undermine basically any serious storyline ROH throws at the them, because they want to be in the dominant heel stable that doesn't really have to put anyone over, while also pandering to the crowd to sell merch. I actually really respect the con, but I don't think it helps the shows at this point, at least not when there isn't an equal counterforce at play in the promotion. ROH does still employ a lot of talented people, and as an a la carte product they can be really fun to watch. But there is almost no juice behind their storytelling, very little buzz behind the promotion at all, and the promotion desperately needs new blood to debut with big impact at virtually every level of the card. What you think of the office largely depends on your perspective, but I don't think it's unfair to criticize them for a lot of the things mentioned above without getting into personal issues, speculation, or things that people don't want to be made public.

That's one interpretation

OTT and Progress will end up on the fed Network soon. Happy for the PWR guys to be getting some exposure as they draw well but being on the West Coast are largely unknown

I love Dirty Daddy and thought the first match was basically perfect for what it was. Maybe I'm just co-opted.

I honestly find it to be a really strange criticism having just watched the match back. Lee IS very young, and Skyler can do things that I could see not appealing to those who value execution more than me, but Lee rarely ever works his age anymore, and none of the Skyler issues I would have expected to be the issue were present. I recognize that Parv and I see eye to eye on very little anymore, but this is one of those criticisms that I not only don't agree with, I don't understand it at all.

One of the reasons why I think this is a terrible first exposure to CWF is that it's not in the Sporatorium. That venue has a crowd that tends to be fully invested in everything, looks better, knows the stories, et. This was likely a benefit show, that had some CWF regulars, and some people who were just there to see "wrestling." The gravity of a CWF title match means little to them. I will say that I don't think the crowd was dead, but I also don't think it compares to the best of what you get in their usual building.

I actually decided to rewatch the match too against my better judgment. I haven't read Chad's write up or talked to Matt or read back Parv's comments. That said....I find the complaint about execution utterly bizarre. I've seen Skyler live a ton over the years and probably my biggest criticism of him is that sometimes his uppercuts look light so I had assumed there was something of that sort in this match that would really jump out. From my perspective no such thing existed at all. There were one or two spots that I would call minor execution hiccups, but nothing that I thought looked bad at all, and nothing even approaching a blown spot. I could see criticizing the match if you hate slow building title matches, though I love them, and the whole deal is that it fits with the bigger story of Trevor Lee's reign. I could also see hitting the match on some other stuff (the section of the floor - while well worked - was not really needed and kind of feels shoehorned in), but by and large I thought it was a great match. Not "brilliant," but I thought the build was there, there was a consistent theme running throughout the match, there were several very strong teases and cut off spots that were built to and/or paid off down the stretch, it lacked the excess that riddle's so many major matches, and the finish was strong. Everyone here knows my aversion to star ratings but I'd probably double Parv's rating if I was forced at gunpoint to throw snowflakes.