Dylan Waco

My biggest criticism of the Cara/Cesaro match is that the armwork ultimately went nowhere. It didn't bother me terribly because Cara wasn't really no selling, and he didn't work spots after the fact that were dependent on the use of the arm, but it's something I would have liked to have seen paid off I didn't like the way they set up the stage spot in Harashima/Ibushi at all, and can absolutely see why it would take the match down a peg for some. Still preferred it to Honma/Ishii on first watch, but not sure if that would hold up on a second go around.

I thought Cara v. Cesaro was blowaway great. Don't see the criticisms of it at all. The match built well, got time, had the right combination of sound psychology and big spots, and I'm lost as to what the alleged botches of Cara's were. I watched Reigns/Bryan v. The Usos the other day on the pimping of a few people and thought it was a solid, but largely uneventful tag. The stretch run kind of had the feel of a throwback to the hot era of Shield tags which was cool, and I liked some of Reigns dismissive facial expressions early on, but as a whole it just sort of felt there. I thought the handheld Harper/Rusev v. Cena/Ambrose tag was vastly better

Side point, but ROH is practically 89 WCW now compared to what they were a few years ago. I'd rather Joe go to NXT for a variety of reasons, but ROH would be an easy second choice. I have no desire to see him in LU. Not saying it couldn't work, but it feels like a bad fit.

Harashima v. Ibushi from the latest DDT show was an outstanding match, even with one segment that was set up in the dumbest fashion possible. Harashima is the best ace in wrestling, and Ibushi has officially won me over. Also want to mention that if Sin Cara v. Cesaro had been on ppv it would be on the radar.

Honestly Joe has looked better in recent years than he did for most of the 07-10 period. I wouldn't say he's had really good years or anything, and he's definitely lost a step, but I rarely think he embarrasses himself anymore, and he's had some very good matches in the last few years.

I guess. But I'm not really a "near falls" guy.

I did know Ishii won, though that sort of thing rarely effects how I look at matches

I think both Rush and Casas are definitely right there with Nakamura in terms of charisma. I think the biggest difference is that Nakamura stands out a bit more because of the way NJPW is presented as a whole v. the way CMLL is presented (tons of guys in masks, dancers on the way to the ring for everyone, et.)

Yeah, I would say the rise of Okada is really when the current wave started to becoming meaningfully large. I would cite the Okada/Naito K Hall match as the real turning point where NJPW became THE promotion for many hardcore fans. On Ishii/Honma I would note that I think how they worked the no selling, kickout, long strike exchange tropes was really good, and it fits their character(s). I also agree that the high stakes nature of the match added to it, as did the crowd. And I have no problem with people calling it their MOTY. That said, it didn't hit me in the gut the way the Rumble 3-way (which I liked a hair less than some) or Ibushi v. Nakamura did on first watch. Part of that may be that I didn't watch it live and I did watch the other two live. But another part of it is that even when certain things are done well and make sense within the context of peoples characters/style, it's not always what I want to see.

I think Christian was what with Rey in 09/10. I would rate Rey higher, but I can't object to the notion of Christian over him for that period. You could argue Christian had the advantage because he was working in an isolated enclave with shows built around his title defenses for much of that run, but the flip side of that was that it was a third tier brand so it was at least theoretically more difficult to get people up for his matches. What's less discussed is that I think Christian was really the heir to Matt Hardy doing the same thing the year before.

I thought it was a great spotfest too fwiw.

Really enjoyed the Sendai show as a whole, but I wonder if I'm the only one who was slightly disappointed by Honma/Ishii. Don't get me wrong, I thought it was a great match, and they made shockingly good use of some tired tropes, but they are still tired tropes. Yes there chop exchange was about as good a one as I've seen and it fits their characters, but I'm still sort of over it. I still consider it a MOTYC, but watching it in close proximity with the Sin Cara v Cesaro match from Main Event I didn't come away thinking it was demonstratably better (though it's obvious which of those had higher stakes and a bigger feel).

Wrestle Ones latest show had a really fun undercard, though the two main events were poor. Still I think Funaki and Kai are having good years, and W-1 is really doing a good job booking entertaining sprints like Tanaka v Inaba that play to everyone's strengths. I would strongly advise people watch the top 3 matches on the latest NOAH show. Suzuki and Taka do great jobs with NOAH aces who refuse to/don't know how to sell, and the tag main event is really good. The best KES match I've ever seen by far, and something I could see on some MOTY lists. Yesterday's DDT show got good reviews a couple of places and is almost completely up on dailymotion. They claimed 6500 paid which if true might give them a compelling argument for being the true number 2 in Japan. The double main event of that show looks really good on paper, hoping to get to it tomorrow.

More later, but Tully is on the list of guys I don't "get" as an all time great. Might make my top 100, but is by no means a lock.

How was the Bull match a stinker? The stip wasn't really used (I suspect this was the result of a production error for lack of a better term), but as a match I thought it was actually solid. You could argue Corbin selling isn't the best use of him, but he's perfectly fine at it. I actually thought both guys came out of that looking better than they did going in.

Watched the show, but in an awkward fashion that made it hard to absorb it all. That said I really enjoyed the last two matches a ton, and liked the opener a lot to despite obvious flaws. Tag title match was a disaster, but an entertaining one. Bull v. Baron was better than I would have guessed and Balor v. Neville was solid for that type of match though it's not a type of match I'm every going to be terribly high on. Over all another really strong NXT special.

Arn, BUT I would listen to an argument for Waltman. I think Waltman is historically underrated, and his worst moments and gimmicks seem to obscure the fact that at his best he was a brilliant talent.

I know quite a few people who's first live wrestling show will be Wrestlemania and no doubt that John Cena is the person they all want to see. The women, specifically, only really know the wrestlers from Total Divas and view John as THE superstar. I think a lot people who buy a ticket or purchase the show, hardcores notwithstanding, will want to see him in a big time match. Don't mistake my point. I'm not arguing that Cena isn't the top guy.I'm arguing that he needs a top program far less than Bryan, Brock, Rusev, or Rollins need it. Cena is the guy - any match he is in will matter

At this point it's a mistake to put Bryan in the main event. What they should do is turn Reigns and Brock respectively, and move Bryan over to Rusev, with Rusev beating Cena clean and decisively at Fast Lane. Of course than the problem becomes what to do with Cena, but of all the parties in question he's the one that least needs a hot feud or opponent.

Anarchy is running a Fred Yehi v. Slim J series. The first match is up as a stand alone on Youtube and took place late last year IIRC. The second match went up tonight as part of the t.v. show and it is really, really good. You can certainly find flaws with it - Yehi's ridiculous oversell after a kickout, the lack of depth to Slim J's selling, the way some of the transitions were delivered - but it was also a match filled with a lot of nice little things including true momentum swings, some really nice counters, build to the big spots, stiff looking shots, spirited and unique grappling exchanges, a broad range of offense, and a finish that made you want to see the series continue without leaving you feeling cheated. It might be my number three MOTY at this point after Nak v. Ibushi and the Royal Rumble Triple Threat FWIW. It starts about 20 minutes in here:

I've enjoyed NOAH this year and it does feel like something special is going on there, but not in the big picture sense. From my perspective NOAH is basically a Japanese Lucha Underground at this point - a promotion with entertaining shows, featuring a lot of interchangeable talent, that has a different feel from other places so it stands out even if I'm not sure it's much better than a lot of places that get hit a lot harder by critics. Also like LU, I'm not sure it can get much bigger than it already is, though unlike LU I do feel like the Suzuki-gun v. NOAH feud could lead to something that at least feels bigger in scope than the norm.

If I were rating my top 10 WWE live experiences I think no fewer than 7 would be house shows

Yep, that's FLIK

I think 2015 Omori laps 2015 Kojima

Going public is a massive, massive part of it. The competition narrative is true, but lack of competition didn't add layers of complexity to the organization of the company, nor did it change the business model, nor did it make short term profits more important than long term development.