NintendoLogic

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Dream Team vs. Ricky Steamboat/Tito Santana (WWF, 4/21/85) A hidden gem tag classic. Fair warning: Valentine and Beefcake spend much of the first few minutes stalling, which is great for generating crowd heat but not so great at entertaining me. I liked how the Santana-in-peril section began with him going for the figure four and having it countered. I’m a strong advocate of wrestlers suffering penalties for going for their finishers too early. Otherwise, there’s no kayfabe reason for them to not spend the entire match trying to land them. I also really liked Santana’s between-the-legs hot tag. Face-in-peril sections would have more suspense if it was established that the heel didn’t have to be completely incapacitated for a tag to occur. The Dream Team’s work on top was an interesting mixture of American-style underhanded tactics behind the referee’s back (I especially enjoyed Beefcake pulling Santana into his corner by the trunks to prevent him from countering a Valentine armbar) and more Japanese-style blatant double-teams in full view of the ref. Great action, great heat, great stuff all around. ****1/2 Stan Hansen vs. Terry Funk (AJPW, 8/23/85) Among fans of the Terry/Hansen feud in 80s All Japan, this is usually considered the weakest of their matches with each other, but it’s by far my favorite. The brawling is more intense, the selling is better (particularly from Hansen), and there’s no downtime in the form of bearhugs and chinlocks. Hansen picking Terry up and tossing him out of the ring like a jobber in the Royal Rumble pretty well sets the tone for the match. Terry’s comeback with JYD headbutts after Hansen missed an elbow drop was a pretty brilliant transition. Overall, though, this match is all about two Texas roughnecks punching each other and all that entails. Hansen and DiBiase trying to strangle Terry with Hansen’s bullrope after the match is a bit too close to attempted murder for my tastes, but it’s redeemed by Dory running in for the save and the three of them recklessly throwing chairs at each other. ****1/4 British Bulldogs vs. Hart Foundation (WWF, 9/23/85) One of my favorite tag matches of the 80s, a nice combination of classic tag structure and Stampede-style workrate. And all in spite of Neidhart being almost completely useless. His offensive repertoire consists entirely of restholds and clubbing blows, and he does nothing interesting on the apron. One spot in particular stuck out to me. While working over Dynamite, Bret cheap-shots Davey Boy off the apron, prompting the referee to restrain Davey to keep him from running in. That seemed to be designed to allow Neidhart to interfere behind the referee’s back, but he does nothing. He was also late running in to break up a Dynamite backslide pin later in the match. Thankfully, Bret is more than capable of carrying the load. With all the interfering and distracting he was doing on the apron in addition to his work as the legal man, he was practically wrestling for two. Dynamite is of course an offensive dynamo, with a vicious knee drop in the opening minutes and a brutal clothesline to Bret’s larynx off the hot tag being particular highlights. But it was his selling that really stuck out to me, both with his facials and his body language. The way he crumpled in pain after a Neidhart body blow was especially impressive. Gorilla Monsoon burying the referee for shoot incompetence by allowing the Hart Foundation to switch without tagging right before his eyes was icing on the cake. ****1/2 Rick Martel vs. Jumbo Tsuruta (AWA, 9/29/85) Jumbo and Martel wrestled each other for the AWA title on several occasions in 1984 and 1985. Most of their matches were rather dull mat-based affairs, but this is a total slugfest. In fact, given the breakneck pace and lack of attention to selling, you could argue that this is a something of a spotfest and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree. I’m pretty sure this is the earliest footage we have of Jumbo working as a full-blown heel. He throws clean scientific wrestling out the window and treats Martel the way he would treat Misawa and company five years later, working him over with knee lifts, European uppercuts, and suplexes. But it’s not just the rougher style that sets him apart. Between playing king of the mountain (a standard AWA heel sequence), taunting the crowd with his trademark “Oh!,” and attacking Martel after he scores a fluke pinfall win, it’s a fully realized heel performance. For his part, Martel shows plenty of fire, but he’s not terribly concerned with selling during his comebacks, perhaps out of fear of looking weak because Jumbo was taking so much of the match. Regardless, watching Jumbo rough up an opponent is one of life’s most sublime joys. ****1/2 Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Memphis, 12/30/85) Compared to their 1983 match, this is more of an all-out brawl. Lawler and Dundee are two of the greatest punchers and sellers of all time, so that’s far from a knock. It also has a much hotter opening. Rather than beginning with conventional Memphis stalling, Dundee takes advantage of Lawler’s bandaged eye and tees off on him from the get-go. Dundee’s work in the opening minutes is a virtuoso heel performance: in addition to getting his licks in, he weaves in and out of Lawler’s field of vision, does the Fargo strut, and even spits on him. I usually quickly lose interest in extended one-sided beatdowns, but Dundee’s ability to mix things up kept it interesting. I also liked how even when Lawler managed to land some punches, Dundee would recover first and continue the assault. If Lawler was going to come back, he was going to have to really earn it. Lawler falling from the stands to the floor is the most notable spot, but it’s actually my least favorite part of the match. For one thing, I thought the setup to the brawl in the stands was poor. Why would Dundee try to walk out when that would cause him to lose by countout? In addition, Lawler being able to beat the count and return to the ring made the bump less impactful than it should have been. Other than that, the biggest problem with the match was the clipping. Over a third of the match is missing, including the transition to Lawler’s first sustained run of offense. Thankfully, we get all of the last several minutes. Lawler collapsing in exhaustion after his post-strap drop punch flurry is a truly epic moment, and the finish was cleverly set up. I’ve always preferred the 1983 match, but this is a fine sequel. ****3/4

Thank you. MS-1 vs. Sangre Chicana (EMLL, 9/23/83) I usually don’t care for matches that strongly adhere to an established formula, but sometimes perfecting a formula can be just as captivating as subverting it. Lucha apuestas matches (where the masks and/or hair of the competitors are on the line) tend to go as follows: the rudo jumps the tecnico before the bell, leading to a completely one-sided first fall. The domination continues into the second fall before the tecnico makes a comeback and evens things up, leading to an evenly contested third fall with lots of nearfalls. This match follows that formula to a T, but it transcends the formula by executing it so perfectly as to become the Platonic ideal for the genre. What sets it apart? For one thing, MS-1's offensive assault during the rudo beatdown is impressively varied. Punching, kicking, stomping, knees and headbutts, ramming Chicana’s head into the apron and turnbuckle, the whole nine yards. Chicana’s selling is also noteworthy. He’s not doing conventional pro wrestling bumping, he’s flopping and stumbling around like a guy who’s getting his ass kicked in a fight. His left hook (literally his first offensive maneuver of the match) followed by a Hoganesque finger point is a suitably epic turning point. A lot of luchadores in this situation engage in rush-of-adrenaline no-selling during their comebacks, but Chicana continues to wobble around like he’s out on his feet. In that context, hitting a tope and crawling back into the ring to win by countout was pretty much the perfect way to win the second fall. By the third fall, both guys are bleeding so heavily that pretty much anything is a credible nearfall. An unequivocal must-see even if you're not into lucha as a whole. ****3/4 Tony Salazar vs. Herodes (EMLL, 3/2/84) This match is notable simply by virtue of the presence of Herodes, who looks (and works) more like a Mexican Harley Race than a typical luchador. It’s almost as if a territory worker thought he was booked at the Omni or Greensboro Coliseum and got sent to Mexico as a rib. Of course, this turns into a total bloodbath by the third fall, but we also get some fantastic spots where Herodes sidesteps Salazar’s high-flying offense. Herodes even does a tope, which has to be seen to be believed. The main problem with this match is that the three falls felt largely disconnected from each other. In particular, I would have liked to have seen the arm work in the second fall followed up on. Even so, the whole ends being more than the sum of its parts. ****1/4 Sgt. Slaughter vs. Iron Sheik (WWF, 6/16/84) For those unfamiliar with the Boot Camp Match, it’s a falls count anywhere match that can only be won by pinfall. There’s not even a shred of scientific wrestling in this match, but that’s just the way I like it. As far as I’m concerned, a pro wrestling brawl should have as little wrestling as possible. Impact moves like suplexes are fine, but there should be no working of holds or fancy pinning combinations. After all, if you hate someone’s guts and are in a no-holds-barred fight, you’re not going to put him in an armbar or a chinlock, you’re going to sock him in the jaw. But the wrestlers still have to take a periodic breather, which is where the big bumps out of the ring come in. It allows them to sell the accumulated damage and catch their breath without resorting to restholds. Sheik’s dreaded loaded boot pretty well solves of the question of how to finish a match involving two guys with submission finishers that can only end by pinfall. Some might find the selling overly theatrical or be unable to suspend their disbelief for the loaded boot, but that’s their loss. ****3/4 Terry Gordy vs. Killer Khan (WCCW, 11/22/84) This might be the head-bitingest match of all time. The Texas death match stipulation doesn’t really lend itself to great matches due to the rest periods usually killing the match’s flow. Gordy and Khan manage to get around this by keeping the pins to a minimum (only three the entire match) and focusing on brawling and bleeding. Nothing fancy, just two tubby dudes clubbering each other for sixteen minutes. I dig guys who can come across as both dangerous and comical, and Khan definitely fits the bill. One minute he’s ramming Gordy into the ring post and biting his bloody forehead, another he’s doing the splits to sell a punch, and neither seems out of place. The clear standout from World Class, which had to have been the worst major territory from a match quality standpoint. ****1/2 Jim Duggan vs. Ted DiBiase (Mid-South, 3/22/85) On paper, a no DQ loser leaves town coal miner’s glove on a pole tuxedo steel cage match sounds like something only Vince Russo would come up with. There’s even an object on a pole. But this is a far cry from Russo because at its core, it’s just a fantastic brawl with the gimmicks accenting the action rather than overtaking it. The look of terror on DiBiase’s face when his sneak attack at the beginning fails and he realizes he’s locked in a cage with a pissed-off Duggan is a classic moment. You know the coal miner’s glove will factor into the finish, so this is largely worked as a quasi-last man standing match with DiBiase beating the hell out of Duggan so he can climb the pole unimpeded. Even the tuxedos come into play with DiBiase pulling Duggan’s shirt over his head and punching him like a hockey goon. Pulling DiBiase off the pole and crotching him on the turnbuckle was a believable way for Duggan to get back into the match. The finish is rather reminiscent of Slaughter/Sheik, just with the glove rather than the loaded boot serving as the MacGuffin. I don’t think it goes quite long enough to hit true epic level, but as a decisive blowoff to a heated feud, there are few equals. ****1/2

Ricky Steamboat would have to be up there as well. He woke up a dead crowd during his tag match at Starrcade 1992 and turned around a largely pro-Flair crowd at Chi-Town Rumble, to name a couple of examples.

Wrestle Kingdom ended up draining me a bit more than I expected, but I've finally made it through the first set of matches. While working on these writeups, it became clear to me that ten matches a day was too ambitious a goal, so I'll most likely stick to five a day going forward. Giant Baba vs. Billy Robinson (AJPW, 7/24/76) If I had to describe this match in one word, it would be “cerebral.” Like most matches of the era, it’s contested largely on the mat and worked at a quite methodical pace, at least by modern standards. But it’s a far cry from the stereotype of work a hold for a few minutes, run the ropes for a bit, back to the hold. The holds, throws, and strikes are contested with a virtually shoot-like intensity, and no sustained advantage comes easy. The broad story of the match is Robinson’s leg work vs. Baba’s head and neck work, and the two threads come together brilliantly in the third fall when Robinson is too eager to press his advantage and Baba kicks him back, causing him to land on the back of his head and giving Baba space to make his comeback. Based on this match, Robinson appears to be one of the most influential wrestlers who ever lived. He's best known for his technical skill, but that’s only part of the story. His elbow smashes were practically Misawa-esque, and his staggered selling was reminiscent of Kawada. In all, his combination of technique, action, and psychology was decades ahead of its time. It must be said that Baba’s selling of the leg work was so understated as to be virtually nonexistent, which undercut the drama somewhat. And the RKO outta nowhere-style finish felt disconnected from the match as a whole. Even so, this is quite the achievement. It’s an acquired taste for sure, but for those attuned to its wavelength, few matches are more rewarding. ****1/2 Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Jack Brisco (AJPW, 8/28/76) This is a more conventional 70s NWA-style match, and it’s my favorite example of the genre. Most of Jumbo’s universally acclaimed work is from the late 80s and early 90s, well past his physical prime, so it’s easy to forget what an athletic marvel he was in his youth. It should not be possible for someone his size to bust out a crisp flying headscissors takedown. Even so, Brisco was the one largely driving things. The way he took advantage of the ropes and threw cheap shots while working holds, along with his borderline-comical selling of Jumbo’s back work, was quintessential 70s scientific heel work. Him laying the badmouth on a supine Jumbo after winning the second fall with a figure-four was the clear highlight of the match. Jumbo’s selling of his injured leg in the third fall was world-class, and the way he mounted a believable comeback while being mostly unable to stand demonstrated an intuitive grasp of psychology well beyond his level of experience. In particular, returning to Brisco’s back, which he had targeted earlier in the match, was a nice wrinkle. An incredible mix of action and drama. ****1/2 Dynamite Kid vs. Tatsumi Fujinami (NJPW, 2/5/80) This match as as good a pick as any for the beginning of history. That is, it’s probably the oldest match that someone reared on modern wrestling could watch and enjoy without significantly altering their expectations. There’s a nice mix of mat wrestling, brawling, and high flying, the action never really drags, and it doesn’t go long enough to overstay its welcome. Dynamite has gone down in history as a workrate pioneer, but his best work was as a soccer hooligan working over his opponent with punches, headbutts, stomps, and the like. There’s a consistent thread of Fujinami wanting to stick to wrestling while Dynamite does everything he can to turn the match into a street fight. Fujinami comes in with a bandaged forehead, and you’d better believe the cut gets reopened. Dynamite casually sidestepping a plancha was a pretty insane spot late in the match. The finish was rather abrupt, but it got Fujinami over as a master technician who had to reach deep into his bag of tricks to survive. ****1/2 Bob Backlund vs. Ken Patera (WWF, 5/19/80) I didn't like this as much on my most recent viewing as much as I had in the past, but it still holds up really well for the most part. Patera blitzing Backlund in the opening minute was textbook high-end brawling, as was Backlund’s comeback. Unfortunately, the next several minutes drag significantly, although Patera’s bearhug and full nelson make sense in the context of his strongman gimmick. Things pick back up after Backlund gets busted open on the outside. A bloody Backlund punching the air while Patera weaved in and out of range was inspired stuff. Patera cutting off Backlund’s comeback with a low blow was great as well. I love it when wrestlers avail themselves of no-DQ rules by utilizing street tactics. I suppose Backlund’s chairshots at the end were kind of business-exposing, but I’m willing to suspend my disbelief. ****1/2 Jerry Lawler vs. Terry Funk (Memphis, 3/23/81) If you like minimalist brawls, this is as good as it gets. The only actual wrestling moves in this match are an atomic drop in the opening minutes and a spinning toehold near the end. Other than that, it’s all punches and elbows and stomps and headbutts and biting and swinging of chairs. And it’s awesome. Lawler and Funk are arguably the two greatest punchers of all time in terms of quality and variety, and they both pretty well exhaust their respective repertoires: jabs, straights, uppercuts, body blows, diving fist drops, even supine punches. World-class selling from both (sympathetic babyface selling from Lawler and comical rudo selling from Funk) makes it feel like a real war of attrition. Add some well-timed interference spots from Jimmy Hart and you have a bona fide classic. ****3/4 Sgt. Slaughter vs. Pat Patterson (WWF, 5/4/81) This has to be the closest approximation of a real-life bar fight to ever take place in a wrestling ring. Slaughter and Patterson both work the match like tough-as-nails bruisers without any real hand-to-hand combat willing to use anything at their disposal to wreak havoc. Patterson uses his belt and boot as weapons while Slaughter tries to strangle Patterson with his own shirt and utilizes Krav Maga-esque eye rakes and low blows. Both guys take some pretty huge bumps out of the ring, and Slaughter’s crimson mask after his signature bump into the turnbuckle is the obvious match highlight. The Grand Wizard throwing in the towel on his charge’s behalf would seem like a copout in most matches, but it works here because Slaughter was in desperate need of medical attention and wasn’t going to surrender of his own accord. What this lacks in grace it more than makes up for in brutality. ****1/2 Ric Flair vs. Brett Sawyer (Portland, 10/2/82) A classic touring champion vs. local challenger title match. In a lot of ways, I think Flair was at his best as NWA Champion in the early 80s. He still made his opponents look a million bucks, but he was much better about not damaging the prestige of the championship by not making himself look too weak. This match is a case in point. Flair usually comes across as wily or underhanded in his title defenses, but he’s hardly ever as vicious as he is here. He really gives Sawyer the third degree with chops, suplexes, knee and elbow drops, and Memphis-quality punches. But he’s also an incredibly giving seller and bumper when it’s time for Sawyer to make his comeback. He even consistently sells his leg throughout the third fall after Sawyer wins the second with a figure-four leg lock. There is a pretty precipitous decline in quality in the third fall, which is mostly controlled by Sawyer. And they seem to run out of ideas by the end, which leads to several repeated spots. The finish was a technically clean but somewhat flukish way for the champion to retain. Overall, Flair looks like the clear best in the world and Sawyer has his stock raised by forcing the world champion to go to such lengths to put him away. ****1/4 Antonio Inoki/Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Riki Choshu/Masa Saito (NJPW, 2/3/83) Most people will probaly see this as a historical curiosity rather than an actively great match, but I really dig it. The rough uncooperative grappling in the beginning was textbook early 80s strong style. I especially enjoyed how Choshu and Saito would force their opponents into their corner to set up double-teams whenever they got in trouble. The double-teaming was primitive by today’s standards, but you can see the origins of 90s All Japan tags in their work. Unfortunately, Fujinami no-selling Saito suplexes to throw dropkicks was incredibly disappointing. Inoki’s selling of Choshu/Saito’s back work was much better, although him sitting in Boston crabs for an extended period wasn’t terribly exciting. Where wasn't much of a build to the finish, but it worked for me because it seemed like Inoki was on his last legs and swinging for the fences with his enzuigiris. Plus, a clean finish in Japan in 1983 is nothing to sneeze at. ****1/4 Dynamite Kid vs. Marty Jones (World of Sport, 2/5/83) This is the most entertaining British match I’ve ever seen, thanks largely to Dynamite’s soccer hooligan antics. I really enjoyed his “aw shucks, I forgot I couldn’t do that under British rules” shtick whenever he would attack Jones while he was lying on the mat or do a diving headbutt. The amount of heat he got simply by going to the top rope was impressive. I will admit that you probably have to have a degree of familiarity with British wrestling to understand how far out of bounds Dynamite’s behavior was. I also enjoyed the use of ten-counts, which allowed them to trade high-impact moves without no-selling. Even Kent Walton was marking out by the end. ****1/4 Jerry Lawler vs. Bill Dundee (Memphis, 6/6/83) There’s some unfortunate clipping in the opening minutes, but it doesn’t appear that any major transitions are missing, and what we do have is some of the best pro wrestling ever committed to film. More than anything, it’s a testament to how compelling basic offense can be when the execution and selling are on point. Enough has been written about the quality of Lawler and Dundee’s punches that I won’t belabor the point. For the most part, though, this match is worked more like a heavyweight prize fight than a hate-filled grudge match. In particular, the tentativeness both competitors show at the outset serves to emphasize the extremely high stakes of the matchup. Dundee being unable to properly execute a piledriver due to fatigue was a great real sports-esque spot. It’s only when Dundee feels he has a clear advantage that he really opens things up, and he looks like an absolute madman when pummeling Lawler with lefts and rights and stomping on his head from the apron. Lawler’s strap drop may have been the greatest of his career in terms of how well-timed it was and the reaction it received, and his uppercut at the end to set up the piledriver was glorious. ****3/4

The amount of heat KENTA got at New Year Dash was unreal. If he can back it up at all in the ring, he'll be the hottest heel in Japan in years.

Kevin Dunn needs to be arrested. Also, are they really calling Seth Rollins the Monday Night Messiah now?

Oh, dear. Rumor is he got busted for possession of kiddie porn. There's all sorts of info/rumors/speculation on Twitter. And yes, he is Drew Gulak's brother for those who are unaware.

Chris Jericho is a former IWGP Intercontinental Champion and won the NWA World Middleweight Championship in CMLL. La Sombra/Andrade is another former IWGP Intercontinental Champion in addition to being a former NXT Champion and the current WWE United States Champion. Tatsumi Fujinami won the UWA World Heavyweight Championship in Mexico and the CWA Intercontinental Heavyweight Championship in Europe. Road Warrior Hawk won the CWA World Heavyweight Championship in addition to all his tag titles in the US and Japan. I personally wouldn't count Sasaki since Stampede wasn't a major promotion and Puerto Rico is part of the United States.

The angle wouldn't have had nearly as much impact if they had done it at New Year Dash. And I think Gedo has more than earned the benefit of the doubt at this point. He doesn't book heat for the sake of heat like WWE, so we can be sure this is building to something. Then again, I have no real emotional investment in Naito, so seeing his big moment ruined doesn't upset me. Also, I've really enjoyed KENTA in New Japan, so I'm happy to see him in the main title picture. I'd probably feel differently if, say, Bad Luck Fale had been the one to lay Naito out.

Moxley/Archer was a huge letdown. I was hoping for a wild chaotic brawl, but it ended up being a rather tame prop-fest that wouldn't have looked out of place on a WWE Extreme Rules card. Guys taking turns trying to throw each other into elaborate setups of furniture is never going to do much for me, particularly when selling is an afterthought. Archer being none the worse for wear less than thirty seconds after being suplexed onto two chairs and a trash can lid was particularly egregious. Also, Moxley exposed the business by throwing knees in the clinch that came nowhere close to connecting. On the other hand, Naito/White greatly exceeded my expectations. Naito is a shell of what he once was physically and White is one of the few guys in the company who tries to get genuine heel heat, so they worked a match built around storytelling and character work rather than workrate. Of course, Naito completely blew off all of White's leg work, and they got a little too cute at the end with the counters and reversals. Still, a 30-plus minute match that never really dragged and kept the overkill to a minimum is always nice to see.

Sorry for the delay, but I ended up making some last-minute revisions to my list. I'll begin in earnest after Wrestle Kingdom.

Around 2011, I first had the idea of making a list of ten matches that, if stranded on a desert island, I could watch and be entertained indefinitely. I soon decided that ten matches weren't sufficient to encapsulate everything I enjoy about pro wrestling, so the list eventually expanded to 50 and then 100 matches. After exposing myself to as much wrestling from as many regions and eras as I could, I now have a list of 200 matches that I can unreservedly call my favorites (as of January 1, 2020, anyway). Now that the list is solidified, I want to give the matches a fresh look so I can properly rank them. So for the next month or so (or however long it takes), this project will be my primary wrestling focus. I plan on watching each match on my list in chronological order and ranking them as I go. After I watch a match, I'll provide about a paragraph's worth of thoughts and assign it a star rating. I'll provide my ongoing rankings 50, 100, and 150 matches in with the final ranking coming after I've gone through all 200. I'm going to try to get through ten matches a day, so I should be done by the end of the month as long as no major life events get in the way and I'm not overcome by the urge to procrastinate. What should you expect if you decide to follow along? The bulk of my selections are from the 80s and 90s, but every year from 1980 to 2019 is represented along with a few matches from earlier years. My tastes tend toward heavyweight slugfests, classic-style (i.e., not ECW) brawls, David vs. Goliath matchups, and matches with strong body part psychology. Expect to see a lot of Bret Hart, Vader, and the stars of 80s/90s All Japan. While many of the selections are among the most universally acclaimed matches of all time, some will probably have several of you scratching your heads in bewilderment as to how I could possibly rate it as highly as I do. If any of the matches I describe pique your interest, most of them are available online (on YouTube/Dailymotion/WWE Network/NJPW World/Ditch's website/etc.). I don't expect anybody to significantly alter their overall outlook as a result of this, but maybe some people will discover some new matches or see old ones in a different light. If nothing else, I hope you find my thoughts somewhat interesting or provocative.

At the rate Charlotte's going, she'll outdo her father in both title reigns and marriages.

Consider how wretched a segment has to be for Joey Ryan to be able to call you out for being tasteless. The incels in the crowd may have popped for it, but most people would be embarrassed to have a family member walk in and catch them watching it. If this is what brings back the casual audience, I hope wrestling remains a niche product until the end of time.

That match will also feature the debut of Arn Anderson as Cody's personal advisor. You would think he would know better than to trust Arn after everything he's done to the Rhodes family. I guess somebody has to be the dumbest man in wrestling now that Sting is retired, and it might as well be him.

You hate to see it: A lot of the criticisms of the modern high-risk style are well taken, but it's worth remembering that Orton spends an inordinate amount of time on the shelf every year while doing nothing but headlocks, stomps, and RKOs.

It was in response to someone dubbing Yakety Sax (aka the Benny Hill music) over the clip.

For most of his career, Omega's act has combined jaw-dropping athleticism with cringe-inducing comedy. The quintessential indy geek, in other words. When he first got a push as a Bullet Club member, he was The Cleaner, a hokey undercard gimmick that wouldn't have looked out of place in the New Generation-era WWF. It took the booking of Gedo, who was heavily influenced by American territory wrestling, to channel his talents and make him a credible Tokyo Dome headliner. Now that he has creative control, he's doing everything he can to turn himself back into a geek. As for Cornette, say what you want about the guy, but when he's right, he's right. That clip looked like a game of tag between fifth graders. And that was from GCW, supposedly one of the top indies in the country.

In case you missed it: So basically a LMS/submission match hybrid. Should be pretty awesome as long as they don't do a bunch of outlaw mudshow bullshit.

In other news, Rusev is apparently bisexual now.

A taped Raw going up against Packers/Vikings. I can't imagine anyone in their right mind watching tonight.

From the 8/12/19 Observer (emphasis added): "There have been complaints from some fans which has gotten to NXT management over the actions of a very few but local other fans based on chants and actions of those fans. The complaints have been about too many racist, sexist, homophobic and xenophobic actions from fans at the Florida shows. Because they run such small buildings, one fan being obnoxious can really hurt the show. It’s essentially something I’ve seen at other shows and have written about, which is the clash between new fans who see wrestling as an art form and artists, and old fans who think wrestling is a night out to yell and scream and being able to say what ever you want based on what was okay 15 or 20 years ago, when those kind of remarks were commonplace at every show and the product encouraged them. One fan wrote to the company and said they and a friend avoid going to Daytona shows for that reason. Another noted that crowd was chanting “kick him out” at one fan who was doing a Nazi salute to back Marcel Barthel, who broke character and basically said that was not acceptable. But his not being kicked out was a common complaint. Another fan complained that on 7/18 in Lakeland a fan yelled the N word at black referee D.A. Brewer and was not kicked out. There were complaints that on 8/2 in Melbourne some guys were yelling out profanity around children and were very disrespectful in making remarks at Tegan Nox. There was also complaints about fans chanting “build a wall” during an Humberto Carrillo match in Daytona in May. Daniel Vidot, a rookie wrestler, also complained about racial slurs by fans saying there is no humor in any type of racial stereotyping or immature displays of racial gesturing and said that they should kick fans out of venues when they try to disrupt shows with those kind of remarks. A group of fans suggested an NXT Fan Code of Conduct be implemented at the shows similar to that of Major League Soccer. The flip side is the generation that grew up with the idea wrestling was a place where you could yell anything you want at the heels, or because of freedom of speech, at the faces because of the idea wrestlers strive to get heat and thus that’s a good thing" Seriously, there's no reason for Florida to continue to exist. Just nuke it or sell it back to Spain or something.

Some NXT fans chanted "happy ending" and "Pearl Harbor" at Kairi Sane last year. And one caused Marcel Barthel to break character by giving him a Nazi salute a few months ago. They really need to get the hell out of Florida.

Interesting. In the past, he's categorically refused to put groups on the ballot if they had members who were already in as solo acts. Maybe seeing all the multiple inductees in the WWE HOF has changed his thinking. If so, we can actually have the Four Horsemen on the ballot rather than the cheap substitute of "Arn and Tully with JJ Dillon."