Childs

Thought this was good but more in the *** or ***1/2 range. It was your basic Danielson touring match from his days as king of the indies, with him working heel against a green but hard-hitting Walter. I liked all the stuff with Danielson luring Walter into the corners and cheap shotting him. And the finishing run popped. But god, I had almost forgotten how annoying the WxW crowd was back in the day.

I'm happy for him and look forward to seeing him wrestle again. But I was probably more excited by the prospect of him doing an indy/NJ run, just because of the fresh match-ups and greater creative control. I guess he's been gone long enough that there's plenty of fresh stuff for him to do in WWE. So it's a win regardless.

Huh, read my review from 10 years ago, and apparently, I thought they missed the boat by working a largely mat-based match at that point in the feud. But I just watched it for the first time since then and have to say, I blew it. I did not see a MOTDC because they lost momentum at times in the back half. But it was an excellent match with so many cool little moments of struggle. So thanks to Jetlag for steering me back to it. In general, the long Inoki singles matches are my biggest regrets from that particular DVDVR process. The Fujinami broadway should certainly have been on there.

Which Inoki/Choshu match was that? The short, heated one? If so, Phil and I dug it. Will, not so much.

It's pretty silly to think a short-term wrestling angle is going to affect a multi-year corporate television deal. Brock could vanish into thin air tomorrow, and it would have no impact on WWE's value to USA, Fox or whomever.

Heymans promo, taken literally, was rubbish. But I suppose if you view it as a heels ode to delusional hypocrisy, it was okay. Not psyched for five more weeks of this though. I just want to see the match.

I agree Jericho rates well by their rubric. But I don't think I'd want to use a rubric that rates Jericho well

People talk about Braun becoming the top guy, but I'm not at all sure he belongs in that role long-term. Yes, he's more over than Reigns, but he's not nearly as pliable. Others have talked about making him this generation's Undertaker, and I like that idea.

I have no desire to see Braun vs. Brock. We know what that looks like, and it isn't that exciting. They hit Braun vs. Reigns hard last year, and they'll presumably have plenty of time to revisit it in the future. Joe isn't set up for a big 'Mania match at this point. For me, Brock-Reigns is the no-brainer choice among those guys. And then maybe the best thing is for Brock to go away, either temporarily or permanently.

The backlash against Lesnar has become overheated. I understand the frustration with his role, and I don't think they needed to give him another long title run. But most of the stuff he did last year--Goldberg blow off, Joe feud, Summerslam main event, A.J. match--came off well. The Braun match was probably the big exception. Is Lesnar stale compared to 5-6 years ago? Absolutely. But he's far from a disaster in these big-event programs. And I'm excited for the Reigns match. Their previous match is on the short list of best main events in Wrestlemania history. They never resolved it. Reigns's promo set up renewed heat between them.

Yeah, I don't think you can accuse Dave of broadly condescending to women's wrestling.

i find punk to be the better worker Than Mysterio? What was he better at other than working heel (and why would you ever want Rey to work heel)? Rey sold better, bumped better, had better timing, had more interesting offense which he executed more smoothly, delivered good-to-great matches against a wider variety of opponents over a longer period of time. Hell, he was probably Punk's best WWE opponent. I understand some legitimacy marks have a problem with Rey, but honestly, I can't imagine that class of fan loving Punk either. Don't get me wrong, I like Punk. But we're comparing a very good worker to one of the best ever. i find both be be overrated read my top 100 list ot see how i see things was he a Santo level draw in mexico like mysico was nope is he a good or as ivovative as Tiger mask nope is he as good as brawler as Morgan nope as masero now is as goo ass navarro or terry nope does he have iconic matches like atlans does nope [ this is stuff rey does not have that comapre him to other lucha guys ] one think punk has got over rey is cardio why look at there logest matches i od not think rey in one one match has gone over 60 mins rumblles dint count anyway since the very stucre of rumble im not talking baout just in one promotion here i talking as whole punk leve allot to dsiare in my book as well one being iffy at best ground game im a techniqe mark first and formost punk is not Ikeda tamura or han in that compartmnet either That takes it well outside the parameters of a poll on WWE workers. But speaking to your points, I don't try to contextualize Rey as a luchadore, because he didn't work in Mexico for much (if any) of his prime. Was he as good a brawler as Pirata or as good a maestro mat worker as Navarro? Of course not. But neither of those roles were his calling, and he was better than those guys at many other facets of wrestling. As for the Tiger Mask comparison, have to disagree. Young Rey was a more spectacular flyer than young Sayama and far less mistake-prone. The cardio thing just doesn't mean a lot to me. Working 60 minutes is such a small part of wrestling, especially in the modern age. Rey's fitness has always held up fine, and if his sweet spot is 15 to 20 minutes, more power to him. But hey, I get that he's not your type of worker. He doesn't fit the style of wrestler you have at the top of your 100 and that's fine. you forget sayama did not only work as tigermask you forget his stuff in uwf and his founding of shooto are you saying in mexico rey in his time there in major promotion outdrew mystico or say pedro in wwe the booking of rey as champion was aewfull even worse than punk's rey was still working mexico in his prime hence why him losing his mask kicked up Such a stink with even ithe commission getting involved form what iv read what od you call prime I'm not forgetting. UWF Sayama is my favorite Sayama, but that was a short run. And it's the only stuff he did that holds a candle to Rey's best work, which covers nearly a 20-year span. And no, I'm not saying Rey outdrew Mystico in Mexico. But so what? Why is that relevant to the question at hand? Same thing with the booking of Rey as champion. Why is that relevant to his quality as a performer? As for Rey's prime, I guess I'd say 1995-1997 for his first iteration and then 2002-2011 or 2012 for WWE? He worked in AAA a lot in the 1990s, and he was a spectacular performer there, albeit not one of the greatest luchadores in history. But I don't think anyone would look at his career and say it was defined by what he did in Mexico. He's a WWE star first.

i find punk to be the better worker Than Mysterio? What was he better at other than working heel (and why would you ever want Rey to work heel)? Rey sold better, bumped better, had better timing, had more interesting offense which he executed more smoothly, delivered good-to-great matches against a wider variety of opponents over a longer period of time. Hell, he was probably Punk's best WWE opponent. I understand some legitimacy marks have a problem with Rey, but honestly, I can't imagine that class of fan loving Punk either. Don't get me wrong, I like Punk. But we're comparing a very good worker to one of the best ever. i find both be be overrated read my top 100 list ot see how i see things was he a Santo level draw in mexico like mysico was nope is he a good or as ivovative as Tiger mask nope is he as good as brawler as Morgan nope as masero now is as goo ass navarro or terry nope does he have iconic matches like atlans does nope [ this is stuff rey does not have that comapre him to other lucha guys ] one think punk has got over rey is cardio why look at there logest matches i od not think rey in one one match has gone over 60 mins rumblles dint count anyway since the very stucre of rumble im not talking baout just in one promotion here i talking as whole punk leve allot to dsiare in my book as well one being iffy at best ground game im a techniqe mark first and formost punk is not Ikeda tamura or han in that compartmnet either That takes it well outside the parameters of a poll on WWE workers. But speaking to your points, I don't try to contextualize Rey as a luchadore, because he didn't work in Mexico for much (if any) of his prime. Was he as good a brawler as Pirata or as good a maestro mat worker as Navarro? Of course not. But neither of those roles were his calling, and he was better than those guys at many other facets of wrestling. As for the Tiger Mask comparison, have to disagree. Young Rey was a more spectacular flyer than young Sayama and far less mistake-prone. The cardio thing just doesn't mean a lot to me. Working 60 minutes is such a small part of wrestling, especially in the modern age. Rey's fitness has always held up fine, and if his sweet spot is 15 to 20 minutes, more power to him. But hey, I get that he's not your type of worker. He doesn't fit the style of wrestler you have at the top of your 100 and that's fine.

i find punk to be the better worker Than Mysterio? What was he better at other than working heel (and why would you ever want Rey to work heel)? Rey sold better, bumped better, had better timing, had more interesting offense which he executed more smoothly, delivered good-to-great matches against a wider variety of opponents over a longer period of time. Hell, he was probably Punk's best WWE opponent. I understand some legitimacy marks have a problem with Rey, but honestly, I can't imagine that class of fan loving Punk either. Don't get me wrong, I like Punk. But we're comparing a very good worker to one of the best ever.

I'm 100-percent comfortable making my own fun.

This was my initial reaction, but I don't think the story is really whether he'll be at Mania. It's whether he can create a Mania narrative worthy of his career. He's an old god fighting, and perhaps failing, to meet his standard. That's actually kind of different and neat.

Punk over Mysterio is a joke. Maybe at his absolute peak he was a bigger star, but even that's pretty dubious given Rey's impact with the Spanish-speaking fan base. On work, Rey destroys him, both peak and volume. Punk over Bryan is pretty sketchy as well. I guess you could argue greater longevity on top, but Bryan's big run was bigger, and again, Bryan just obliterates him on work.

To be fair though, they probably will at least attempt a more focused build after Fastlane. Though I agree they squandered whatever momentum Nak might have had coming out of the Rumble. I do think Nak-AJ is catnip for smarks and will generate a good response in the stadium no matter how underwhelming the builld.

For my money, Owen was considerably better than Davey--better peak performances, many more good matches, more interesting character.

Though I'm fine with Cena and Taker doing a living legends match in theory, I don't have high hopes for the reality of them attempting a 25-minute bomb fest. We have no evidence that Taker has it in him physically. And Cena wasn't exactly at his best in the Rock matches, which seem like blueprints. It sounds like a Wrestlemania match, that's for sure. I'm just not sure whether to root for it. That said, I've enjoyed Cena's quest for a Mania narrative, which seemed silly a week ago but has turned into a decent piece of business.

I normally would agree with you, but this is actually a sensible way to bring Rousey in, given her previous Wrestlemania exchange with Stephanie and the fact she's probably not ready to work a big-time title match. I'm not looking forward to six weeks of them building the angle, but the concept is fine.

This. Along with the story about how they aren't going to be Adam for months upon months worth of work that he's done for Powerbomb.tv because of all this. If people want to keep subscribing too, whatever for them. I want places like Beyond to make money. However, I am out. Their defense of the companies we stream can do whatever they want, we give them full control is a bullshit argument. I guess that speaks to what I meant. You have this cool idea that seems to be gaining steam with a whole bunch of worthy companies on board. And you jeopardize the whole thing over fucking Michael Elgin and Ian Rotten? Absurd.

I do not pretend to know the inner workings between the founders. I read the thing Lash posted on Twitter and he struck me as overwrought, not that I blame him for wanting to steer clear of the Elgin mess. Do we actually know the other partners were vehement? Or did they just feel Elgin was not a big enough deal for them to cross Smart Mark? Really, no one comes off as terribly sympathetic.

I could not give less of a fuck whether Powerbomb streams shows featuring Michael Elgin. But if they end up ruining their business over it, that would be monumentally stupid. Hope it does not play out that way.

I like him a lot more as Prince Puma. I think he wrestles at least somewhat differently in that role. Granted, the matches that all stand out the most are the Muertes matches and that might just be a case of him having a base to work with instead of someone with a similar style to force a lot of overall excess. I liked his match with Rey in what, 2016? But that was Rey. I do think he might hit another level in NXT as they streamline what he does a bit more. He has a lot of tools.