Coffey

At this point, we're all familiar with the majority of any participating members for matches that the major promotions could come up with. We already know what The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, etc. are capable of and if we're a fan of what they do, or if we like their individual styles. Personally speaking, regardless of what rating Dave Meltzer gives a match featuring someone like, say, Zack Sabre, Jr., I know I'm not going to like it the same way that he might. Just different tastes and different wants from professional wrestling. That is not to say that it is not interesting to see Dave's hype train rolling down the tracks full speed ahead but I do think it raises expectations to the point where some fans go into a match or show with a mental bar that can not be met. When a match gets a rating that high, your expectation goes from "this should be pretty good!" to "so, this is the best match of all-time, huh?" At least for me, it makes me watch shit differently, too. Like I go in more jaded & looking for flaws instead of just getting sucked into the story of the match & going for the ride. That's why I hate spoilers so much. I don't want to do that, I'm not looking to do that.. but that's what happens. I can't alter the inner monologue that formulates from the expectations created via praise & hype. I certainly have my own preferences & am more than capable of formulating my own opinions on wrestling. Shit, I've been watching for thirty years, I know what I like & dislike at this point. At the same time, I'm not naive enough to believe that it doesn't affect me in some way when I go into a match already hearing all the hype before I ever watch it. Dave Meltzer's star ratings do still make people pay attention & I think that's part of the reason why the scale is getting so wonky now. If he just gave Okada/Omega 5-stars, I don't know if it would have made anyone bat an eye. He had to do it in a way that made people think "well, he thinks it's better than the last one." If Dave gave a Big Show match 5-stars, people would pay attention. It's all about expectations & previous work in combination with a wrestling journalist trying to get people to pay attention. To me, this is Dave saying with numbers that this isn't just a good or great match, this is a match that you need to go out of your way to watch. It's important to see it to see the direction that pro-wrestling is going & what the cream of the crop from that direction are capable of doing.

My top six in the GWE ballot (submitted in 2016, so it's just a little over two years ago now) was as follows: 1. Hansen 2. Misawa 3. Kobashi 4. Kawada 5. Flair 6. Terry Funk If I were to do it again today, it would be: 1. Terry Funk 2. Stan Hansen 3. Ric Flair 4. Kenta Kobashi 5. Toshiaki Kawada 6. Mitsuharu Misawa Has anyone else had the TOP of their list change that much in two years? Or replaced any of the names? I certainly miss the Terry Funk & Harley Race style men in the climate of today's social media pro-wrestling.

I thought that the ACH/Austin Aries match would have been so much better than it was. Disappointing. I haven't finished the first episode yet, just that twenty minute match, but I plan on marathoning the episodes to catch up.

Only thing I really care about is the verdict. Who knows how far away that will even be. And it'll take like two seconds to read it on Twitter.

Hogan for me as a kid was the superhero babyface that would topple the monster. When I was a teenager, he then turned into the cool nWo bad guy that was protected by his gang. Then as an adult, he had the nostalgia run and Wrestlemania match with the Rock. So for people around my age, he whole run was pretty welcome. People older than me, however, different story. Or the younger fans that didn't see his initial WWF run. I think it's definitely a generational thing. When Hogan did start to wear out his welcome, that's when he left for WCW. His early run in WCW, admittedly, was pretty bad until the heel turn.

You and I will never see eye-to-eye on pro-wrestling. Honestly, I would rather watch jobber squashes than what wrestling has turned into today. Regardless of if it's in high-def or not. That's not to say there weren't some bad workers back then too but the majority of them at least knew what they were doing. When I watch highly pimped Indy matches, in example, I just shake my head & say "I don't get it." I don't get why people think Kenny Omega is the second coming of Ric Flair. I don't get why the Young Bucks and their Super Kicks and flips are so popular. I don't get a lot of things, like why people thought New Day were funny, or that Sasha Banks was one of the best in the world, or why the Broken Matt Hardy wrestlecrap was ever over, including in TNA. I find my views fall a lot more in line with Jim Cornette nowadays than the people following Dave Meltzer on Twitter. I don't know if it's a generational thing or what but the shit today, to me, is never going to stand-up to the days of Ric Flair, Rick Rude & Ricky Steamboat. That's not to say that there aren't thing about modern pro-wrestling that I can find that I enjoy but when I want to watch wrestling nowadays, if it's not a live PPV, it's usually me putting on something from the late 80's or early 90's on the WWE Network. Character work is certainly a lot of it. Honestly, I think it's more than just the wrestlers themselves. There's a lot more to it in WWE, for example. It's all about being TV-PG and selling for the hard camera and making sure that you hit every minute correctly because of the next commercial break or whatever time management bull they're working around. It's overly micromanaged & nothing about it is organic. And Indy wrestlers nowadays are always thinking of how to get bigger on social media, do something that will make a nice animated .gif (that could go viral) or come up with a way to hock some more overpriced, low-quality t-shirts. In modern professional wrestling the workers are afraid of getting heat. No one wants to get real heat. Part of it is probably because in this day and age they think it's impossible. Kayfabe is dead, everyone has camera phones, everyone has social media, no one can just be a bad guy 24/7 anymore. No one wants to be the giant dick, they all want to be the cool bad guy like the fucking nWo. No one wants to be The Sheik. WWE would have sponsors pull out, or who knows what. Wrestling used to be a male soap opera based around good against evil that the fans would believe and get into while watching. Now it's an athletic display where the crowd feels like a part of the show & applauds athletic feats like they're watching the OIympics. It went from being believable to being totally unbelievable but full of a bunch of "holy shit!" moments for the crowds to get their chants in. I guess I take professional wrestling maybe too seriously because it's been such a huge part of my entire life. When even the workers themselves don't take it seriously anymore and make a mockery of it (in the name of "comedy"), it makes me feel.. bad? Slighted, I guess. So I guess I get where Jim Cornette is coming from because it was his entire life and he fed his family with it. He watched his friends & co-workers go through hell & deal with miles, bad pay, injuries, addictions & death, so seeing Kenny Omega wrestle a 9-year-old, Kota Ibushi fight a blow-up doll or Joey Ryan doing dick spots is probably going to be a sore spot. There's always been comedy in wrestling & there always will be. You can still have fun but it just feels too over-the-top for my taste nowadays. It's hard for me to watch that shit. It's business-exposing nonsense. Vince McMahon is guilty for doing a lot of it too. So where did all the characters go? It's more where did all the heels go? nWo made it so heels can be cheered & sell merch... so why would anyone want to be a lame babyface or heel without the cheers & merch? The top heels are the top faces. The top faces are the top heels. John Cena and Roman Reigns get booed. Also, think about the influences. The wrestlers that are wrestling today grew up watching guys like Shawn Michaels, Jeff Hardy and Rob Van Dam. That's a lot different than wrestlers that grew up watching Harley Race, Terry Funk & Bruno Sammartino. They saw the atmosphere of the ECW Arena. They played the video games. I love when professional wrestling is treated like a legitimate sport; a contest between two wrestlers to determine who is better on any given night. When I can get immersed in the match/story. Wrestling now is more a performance than a contest. The only thing it's missing is judges holding up score cards... but I guess star ratings kind of do that... You don't have to have a great character anymore. You just have to have a great spot that people can retweet on Twitter.

I used to love the Tazmission/Katahajime in ECW as a finish. I wouldn't mind seeing that again. Especially since everyone taps out nowadays & no one has to verbally give up anymore. It makes for a good visual because it's easy to see the tap out in that move. That's probably my number one. Chickenwing was AWOL for awhile after the Bob Backlund days but there's a few people, like Asuka & Marty Scurll that use it now. So that's pretty cool. I also miss the good, old fashioned Piledriver but I understand why WWE has moved away from that. Seeing the Torture Rack as a finish again would be awesome. I never thought Lex Luger was a super worker or anything but I was always hype for his matches because someone might get Racked. When he put up Hogan and The Giant, I marked out. Barry Windham style floatover Superplex would be cool to see make a comeback.

New wrestling "boom" period coming, boys! I kid, I kid. Seriously though, this is a ton of money for WWE. And they sold a ton of tickets for the All-In Indie show. And New Japan is pretty strong too. Factor in shows like Lucha Underground and GLOW being on Netflix & wrestling is looking pretty in the near future. Pretty cool though.

I kinda wish they would have pulled the trigger with putting Alexa and Braun together on-air after the Mixed Match Challenge. And I wish they would build the women's division around babyface Becky.

I hope they stream it or something so I can still watch it.

Early 90's WCW & late 90's ECW are my two. WCW because it's nostalgic for my childhood. ECW because it's nostalgic for my teenager years. Everything after 2000, regardless of promotion, blends together. I graduated high school in 2000. The last 18 years... I can't differentiate one year from the next. I love the sports feel that early 90's WCW provides & Jim Ross and Jesse Ventura is my favorite 2-person commentator duo. ECW, I was a mark for table spots & how they could take someone that I didn't like, or didn't think was that good (Rhino, Mike Awesome, etc.) and make me care about their matches. The Monday Night Wars? Eh, don't really care. But pre-Hogan WCW? That's my shit. If I could just pick one promotion and one five-year span, it would be WCW 1989-1994.

Here I thought this thread was going to be a discussion about how much attractiveness plays into people being able to overlook flaws in a performer. To the degree that some even prop-up talent to the next echelon because their looks effect their judgement so much. Instead it's just five pages of people talking about who is attractive. I didn't see that coming.

Who is the better worker? Big Cass or Erik Rowan. Inquiring minds want to know.

Cena also beat The Rock with The Rock raising his hand at the top of the ramp. I think that was supposed to be the "passing of the torch" moment even if the fans didn't really buy it.

Alexa also apparently got legit injured during the match. Left shoulder according to Dave Meltzer (check that source, I got it from Reddit).

How different would things have been had it been a different racial slur, against a different group of people? If Hulk Hogan on his leaked video made an anti-semitic remark, would people have reacted the same way? It would still be awful but I do think people treat different slurs more harshly than others. And the defense of having buddies come out of the woodwork to say "well, I've known him forever & he was never racist" is always a terrible look too. Hall & Nash sticking up for him just made it look worse IMO. Hulk Hogan was a huge part of my life but there's no defending what happened here, regardless of how the information was obtained. Reap what you sow, right?

They need to build up a new top guy. Reigns ain't it. They need a new top babyface. They have still yet to replace John Cena. I don't know who that person is, or who is could be, but I know it's not Roman Reigns. He's damaged goods at this point as a top guy. They also should not have wasted the 20-year Undertaker Wrestlemania undefeated streak on Brock Lesnar. WWE just has been making sketchy decisions with a lot of shit the last few years. I don't really know what's going on. Who on the roster is a young guy that's not overexposed that WWE could try to start pushing up the ladder as a top babyface? Even if you include NXT, I'm not sure if they have anyone that I can see as a potential top babyface. Of course, I didn't see it with John Cena and I certainly didn't see it with Rocky Maivia or Stunning Steve Austin. But they gotta give up on Roman Reigns as the top guy. If Johnny Gargano was bigger, I would say him. If Adam Cole wasn't so sleezy & a natural heel, I would say him. Maybe they're going to try with Seth Rollins as a babyface on top instead of a heel this time?

Samoa Joe has always exuded cool.

Show tolerance & respect. Unless Saudi Arabia offers you a lot of money... then fuck it. Take the money.

Is JoJo pregnant?

If you cutout the Superplex spot & the second SCF kickout & that's a really good match. Still a good opener for a B-level PPV.

I'm really digging this match but I'll never like that Superplex spot. You don't just no-sell a Superplex. Even if it's not 1985 anymore, that's still a big move.

That was an AWESOME spot & set-up to the Figure-Four. That was good shit.

I'm genuinely surprised the crowd is this hot. Hope they keep it up! Making the show more enjoyable.

I struggle to think of a commentator that is worse that has the amount of experience as Coach. MA-MA MIA~!