Childs

I try not to be a stick in the mud but feels wrong for the Rumble to start in the first hour.

That main event just floored me. Very good show to that point and then it went to the stratosphere. I cannot remember the last time I got that sucked up in a WWE match.

Wow. Here goes your WWE MOTY and maybe your MOTY period. Innovative, violent, incredibly dramatic, great story for both guys, tremendous crowd. Wrestling does not often blow me away these days. But this blew me away.

His general lack of clarity also hurts him with stories like this. It becomes hard to tell what he is actually trying to say or whom he has actually interviewed. He needs an editor.

As an addendum, curious to hear from Dylan if he thinks Stutts's firing will hurt the company's creative roll? Not the No. 1 issue, obviously, but I would hate to see the hard work of many undermined by one person's fuck-ups.

I thought the tone of the piece was reasonable. Bruce clearly stated that Stutts crossed lines in multiple ways and presented his firing as the right call for the company. He finished by saying that even though Stutts is contrite, he will have to back up his words with actions. The "loves women" thing struck me as appropriate context, describing this big-personality guy who lost his way. I mean, the piece could have been harder on facts, but I didn't read it as an apology for Stutts.

My (limited) understanding was that Elgin was accused of mishandling an assault allegation against one of his students, not of assaulting the woman himself. Is that wrong?

I don't fully understand the Elgin story or why people are now angry at Dave. Not saying people shouldn't be angry at him. I just haven't seen a good synopsis of the situation.

Its weird to me that people remember GWE as this dark thing. It was an exciting, engaged period for the board. Was there a bit of collective hangover? Yes. But I would do it again. Not sure matches will ultimately work as well, because there are just too many of them. But should be fun regardless.

I'll end up watching the big matches after the fact, but there's not a single one I'm truly anticipating. I'm sure the main will deliver in the way that NJ mains do, but I don't feel an affinity for either Okada or Naito. Jericho-Omega is semi-intriguing if they work some hate into it, but I don't trust Jericho at all. When was his last great big-match performance? If he tries to keep up with Omega athletically, could get ugly. I've enjoyed broke-down Tanahashi quite a bit so I'm hopeful he can deliver an unexpected MOTN with White, who at least brings some tools. Can't imagine the junior clusterfuck being anything more than a decent sugar-rush match. I always hold out hope for Suzuki matches, but Goto is such a void of charisma that I don't expect much more than a generic slugfest. Regardless, it's always fun to wake up and read the reactions to the show.

Is there any real reason to get wXwNOW if you have Highspots? Highspots is great, btw--huge archive, reliable, regularly updated. Powerbomb is really coming on, and they seem genuinely devoted to creating the best possible product. I also recently subscribed to Progress for a month to catch up with their 2017 stuff, and it's a good service. I'll probably give WWN a shot, but I'm not sure I'll keep it all 12 months.

The WALTER-Dragunov match is one of those highly acclaimed ones that I would give like **1/2. I find Dragunov thoroughly unconvincing.

I was going to mention that one to go with Phil's recs. They really do have some killer highs for a team that generally doesn't interest me. I guess if there's any frustration, it's that they could be really great if they cut back on the wink-wink shit. But they're doing great without my approval so more power to them.

Did you watch the Rotweilers vs. WALTER and Thatcher from WXW? Think you would enjoy.

I don't think its so much that he doesn't know what he's doing as much he's stuck in exhibition mode most of the time. He treats chain wrestling like spotmonkeys treat flips, and that kind of "look what I can do" attitude is rampant in this generation of "big" Indy guys. He's the guitarist doing a dozen sweep arpeggios when a hammer-on would've been perfect. Not that it isn't impressive and a nice change from a card likely filled with moonsaults and weak suplexes. Part of what I liked about him this year was that with him working heel more, his grappling got less exhibitiony. That used to bug me as well. The fact that it might not look authentic to an MMA or BJJ fan is irrelevant to me.

Styles-Mahal was excellent. In AJ we trust.

Pretty bizarre to say Dandy's greatest exposure came as a C-show worker. That presumes you'd define his legacy by what he did in the U.S., which would be insane. That's why this conversation can't even really be had unless we defined what "underrated" actually means. Underrated to who? Because to people inside the PWO bubble no one in the OP is underrated. Even outside of that it and onto twitter it seems like Bobby Eaton is very highly regraded as is Brad Armstrong. If we're just talking "general audience, only ever watched WCW/ECW/WWE" then those guys would probably be underrated. El Dandy certainly would be since "Who are you to doubt El Dandy?" still comes up just about anywhere his name is talked about outside of somewhere like PWO and DVDVR. Agreed. I always hate the overrated/underrated questions because they're far more about who's doing the rating than about the subject. And I frankly don't give a fuck who's underrated by Joe casual fan.

Pretty bizarre to say Dandy's greatest exposure came as a C-show worker. That presumes you'd define his legacy by what he did in the U.S., which would be insane.

He's had PWG matches against Keith Lee and Janela that I liked. But his case relies heavily on CWF, where, as you say, he's tremendous.

I'm a little surprised Riddle is still near the top of some lists. Thought he took a step back this year. He still brings enormous charisma, and his best matches have been terrific. But I find him less interesting as he becomes more of a pro wrestler and less of an ex-MMA guy. He now has a clear formula that relies on some spots--the upkick counter, that awful looking tombstone, the suplex no-sell--that I dont like at all. And he never has mastered worked strikes. I was in love with him 18 months ago. Now I'm not. I'm also not a fan of Starr, though I haven't studied his work closely enough to make a good argument. The Walter series struck me as a really good big man against an okay little man, with Starr bringing a lot of energy but little else of note. The guy who really won me over this year was Sabre. Loved his EVOLVE stuff early in the year against Hero and Thatcher, thought he maintained a high level in PWG highlighted by his miracle match against Chucky T and found his New Japan work in the G1 and against Tanahashi consistency interesting. I was a skeptic on him for years, but he's streamlined his work and thrives as a heel. Don't know that he's my WOTY but he's right in the mix.

He's said repeatedly that he doesn't love it and never did. I agree he's naturally gifted at parts of it that you'd associate with a committed worker. And I think he tries to hold himself to a reasonable standard of athletic performance. But I have no reason to believe he loves it.

Yatsu wrestled for Japan in the Olympics. I believe that's why he wore the tights.

I loved this. Pair this with Ringkampf vs. the Briscoes from the night before, and WXW had itself one hell of a tournament. I'm normally not a fan of matches that stay outside the ring as long as this one, but Ki and especially Homicide are so good at creating mayhem. And it was cool watching Thatcher and Walter adjust to a different style of match. Ki is still such an amazing athlete, and he killed it on his few big spots in this match. I also loved the fight he showed whenever Walter tried to get him up for a power move. Too bad he screwed up his knee on that double stomp to the outside. I hope Ringkampf stays together for a long run taking on all comers.

This was a good hierarchy match, and Walter always holds up his end. But I don't get the MOTYC buzz. Starr brings a lot of energy, but some of his offense just doesn't click for me, and I don't find him captivating as an underdog. If I did stars, it'd be in the ***1/2 range.

Speaking to the spottiness of NJ World, there were two other matches in their '83 series (another April one and one in September) that added richness to the whole thing, though the series still didn't come to a definitive conclusion. Then they hooked it up again in 1988.