Childs

I'm not a fan of either guy at this stage, but they did belt the shit out of each other and the crowd was really into it. I'd like to see the whole match at some point.

Not sure I'd call it "pretend" wrestling. But OMEGA has always struck me as a "had to be there" thing. Whatever made people fall in love has never come across to me on tape. I'll be interested to see if the more pimped matches from later years strike me any better.

He was hostile because you made a snide comment to him. A lot of folks like to give Johnny friendly pokes about his WWE love, but I don't think many would say that his natural setting is hostile.

Frye looked and worked like such a nasty fucker. That punch-suplex-choke finishing combo was fantastic. I agree with Loss; I love this as a change of pace on a New Japan card, and it's a shame they ultimately lost their way in balancing Inoki's shoot fantasies.

We're not calling Yamazaki an MMA guy are we? He started his career in New Japan. Anyway, this was another intense match between these two. I loved Yamazaki's focus on Hash's midsection in the early going, and they produced some hellacious strike exchanges. Hash was an all-time master at these short, violent matches.

I drifted quite a bit during the 15 minutes of highlights, so nay to 60 minutes.

I don't quite get the gripes about this match. You basically had Taue trying to throw bombs at Misawa from the drop, knowing he couldn't outwrestle him in the long haul. And you had Misawa, fighting to survive long enough that his superior talent could find its level. Taue had long since established the apron spots as go-to moves in big matches. So they seemed a logical part of his nuclear strategy. The Tiger Drivers looked weird, but Misawa's comeback offense still came off as plenty nasty. A 20-minute sprint full of big moves is pretty much what I want from Misawa-Taue. This can't touch the 4/15/95 classic but fits comfortably with the rest of their series. So I don't see it as part of the "All Japan in decline" theme.

I was actually surprised how much I liked the SUWA-Dragon Kid match. The restart was an effective bit of drama, and then I liked the SUWA control section a lot more than you did, NL. SUWA's stuff looked nasty, and Dragon Kid came off as gutsy to survive it and then pull out a win with that nifty dragonrana. The match carried a genuine sense of rivalry and didn't overstay its welcome. I went in thinking it couldn't make my top 100 but came away thinking it'll probably contend for the mid-ballot.

I'm a little ashamed that I actually went to Google to figure out if this was the same Brakus who was the big bad in Best of the Best II. Nope, different German body builder.

I kind of wanted these guys to get their own blowoff instead of having this serve as the appetizer for Santo-Casas. But the match was still really good. I loved Santo hitting his dive before Felino could make it to the ring. They got a little nasty with each other but never full-on violent and crazy. Both guys hit some beautiful stuff. It's just a shame that the mask ripping signaled the end of the match rather than the dialing up of a wild third fall.

Really good TV match. I have to say that Hall and Nash have been pretty good when we've seen them work actual matches as a team. They understood the basics of cutting off the ring and working hope spots. Benoit showed great fight going one on two at the end. I loved the way he punched out of the powerbomb only to be decapitated by Nash's big boot after Hall distracted him.

Yeah, this was a fun contrast to a lot of the RINGS classics because Tariel was more a mauler than a slick mat guy. He had a huge size advantage and did some neat things to neutralize Tamura with his bulk. Not a long match, but there was something interesting going on pretty much every moment. Tamura has to rank as one of the top workers of '97. We sometimes have a monolithic view of shootstyle, but actually, he produced standout matches against a wide variety of opponents.

You're just saying that to burnish your reputation, right?

Yeah, the intensity between Bret and Vince was something special, even more so in the pre-Austin-McMahon era. This whole show felt barely under control. What continues to stand out about the WWF's year is the rich interconnectedness of the main feuds -- so many lively issues rotating around Bret as the fulcrum.

Shawn was put on Earth to be a heel. I don't care what Jesus told him later on. Everything from his preppy summer garb to the backflip after he saluted the American flag was spot on.

I love this match-up because Anjo always tried to out-prick Tenryu, who is not a man to be out-pricked. Anjo was a shootstylist who could've worked in just about any setting, because he was such a naturally smarmy dickhead. A smirk seemed to be his natural expression, and I loved the dirty little shit he did, like standing on Tenryu's hand to prevent him from getting up after a rope break. Tenryu, of course, answered with his usual brew of closed-hand punches and reckless lariats. The match featured a great finish, with Anjo hooking a flash submission after eating a nearfall off Tenryu's power bomb. Tenryu then decimated him with a lariat for his insolence and finished it with a second powerbomb. Yoji, asshole to the last, tried to kick Tenryu during the post-match handshake. Love it!

I know nothing about these wrestlers, but I know they put on a hell of a match here. They established their desperation to compete and win from the first moments. They attacked with a bunch of interesting offense; Tamura, in particular, delivered some nifty variations of leg work and that badass suplex at the end. And they sold enough to make it all mean something. The highlight of the match, in fact, was probably Uematsu punching at her own leg and screaming after she hit her big dive to the floor. Sometimes, the screeching gets to me, but in this case, it sold how unhinged she was about keeping her title. Anyway, yeah, this was terrific.

They did an awesome job building the really simple stuff involving Rodman into big moments. I mean, it's sort of ridiculous to think that an armdrag carried that much meaning. But everyone, from Luger to the announcers, sold the shit out of it. I thought they struck a nice balance between making Rodman look competitive and giving him some comeuppance. For NWO matches involving pro athletes, I'd still take the Slamboree tag. But the evidence suggests that WCW was surprisingly good at staging these types of matches in 1997. EDIT: The announcers buying Nash as Sting was fucking stupid.

I had never seen this before and it was a total blast. Wrath shocked me with his agility, especially on that somersault off the apron. Say what you want about WCW but they brought the diversity.

Kris, you seriously think Michalczewski is a bigger hole in RJJ's record than Pacquiao is in Floyd's? Sorry, but that's nuts. Manny and Floyd were the No. 1 and No. 2 guys in the sport and their fight would've been the biggest boxing had seen in at least a decade. I mean, if Sugar Ray Leonard had refused to fight Tommy Hearns, would we look at his career exactly the same way? And Manny is not the only example. The boxing public wanted Floyd to fight Cotto back when Miguel was undefeated and wrecking top fighters with body shots. But Floyd waited until last year, long after Cotto had been diminished by terrible beatings from Margarito (probably assisted by loaded gloves) and Pacquiao. He never sought a fight with Paul Williams when Paul was a massive/stylistically tricky welterweight. He never considered moving up to face Sergio Martinez at a catchweight. Again, I'm not saying we should consider Floyd anything less than an all-time great. I'm not saying he's fought bad competition. But I think it's terribly revisionist to say he's always sought the best competition. He definitely has not. As for Will's question about Canelo -- he was as good an opponent as Floyd could've picked at this moment. But I think Floyd knew full well that Canelo lacked the speed or sophistication to hang with him. So it was the perfect choice, one for which he'd get a lot of credit without much risk. That's Floyd in a nutshell and really, more power to him. He's great and smart about his business.

I don't think he's a fucking joke. I think he's a supremely talented guy who is wired to care more about controlling every situation than about testing his talent to the utmost. The Pacquiao thing is the best example. I'm pretty sure that Floyd would've beaten Manny two years ago, when they were both near their primes and everyone wanted them to fight. But instead of saying damnit, I need to fight this guy no matter what, Floyd dicked around over minutiae until the moment had passed. I don't think he ducked Manny exactly. But he didn't push for the fight at all costs. Look, Floyd is an amazing talent who has nurtured his ability far better and longer than most. Guy is never out of shape, never flat come fight time. He has fought a lot of good opponents and continues to do so in his late 30s. It's an extremely impressive resume. But there is a caution in him that keeps him from saying I need to fight the absolute best guy out there, right now.

It's not strange. He only fights guys he knows he can beat. That's not to take anything away from his greatness. But he's always picked his fights carefully.

The subhed of Shoemaker's column on Night of Champions includes the phrase "nexus of unreality." Dude just has no other mode for writing about wrestling.

That is one where I strongly suggest you read through the yearbook threads and get a sense of what people liked and didn't like. A few highlights for me: * The WAR/NJ feud, which went from late '92 to early '94 and climaxed with tremendous singles matches between Hashimoto and Tenryu on 6/17/93, 8/8/93 and 2/17/94. But really, Tenryu vs. anybody in New Japan, singles or tag, is worth watching. * The Liger/Sano juniors feud, which started in '89 and ended with a classic on 1/31/90. Just great action and heat in all their matches. * Liger vs. Otani in '96-'97, probably the greatest version of Liger as junior ace vs. young guy on the rise. Their 3/17/96 and 2/9/97 matches are classics. * Rise of the Hashimoto/Mutoh/Chono generation of heavyweights. You start to see this with the Hash/Choshu singles matches in '89 and '90 and the 11/1/90 heavyweight tag. But you must check out the '91 G-1 Climax tourney, which features great matches involving all three and climaxes with a brilliant final between Chono and Mutoh. * The 4/16/94 Super J Cup, often cited as a puro gateway drug. Lots of action and a wide variety of wrestlers, some of whom you'll recognize. * The 1/4 Dome shows. These aren't always great, especially for juniors. But it's a cool setting for a big spectacle match, like the '96 showdown between Inoki and Vader.

I'm probably at 10-12 hours a week, down from 15-20 pre-kid.