NintendoLogic

New #1 selections for 2008 and 2009 (in the OP).

It's always amusing to hear broad sweeping pronouncements on military culture from people with zero first-hand experience, but sexual assault in the military is like sexual assault in the civilian world in that it almost never involves a stranger or a weapon. It beggars belief that some random schmuck would be able to drug and kidnap a celebrity with no one in the USO being the wiser. I'm all for believing women, but that doesn't mean being blindly credulous when there are details that don't add up.

I'll be honest, the story in the affidavit sounds pretty fishy to me. For a celebrity on a USO tour to be drugged and raped in a military hospital would require the complicity of pretty much the entire hospital. I find it implausible that something like that could happen without any kind of word getting out in the ensuing decade. The affidavit says that Ashley confided in Maria Kanellis shortly afterward, so she should be able to corroborate it one way or the other.

Can someone give those of us who aren't watching the deets on this new title?

I have to say that the Bayley cash-in was really well-done. I can't think of a better way to have a babyface cash in without it coming across as cheap.

A couple of recent news items: -Jordynne Grace has been working without a contract for the past seven months. They gave her one, but she never actually signed it. Apparently, they just realized this and have been scrambling to get her under contract. -A technical error led to Pursuit not broadcasting the main event of the last episode. The final 15 minutes consisted of a loop of commercials. I guess TNA is and always shall be TNA.

It seems like several of you owe Satin an apology.

90s AJPW only had four draws outside of the Champion Carnival. And I'm sure AEW won't have clean decisive finishes every week, only on the PPVs. Expecting people to pay 50 bucks to watch matches with weak cop-out finishes seems like a terrible business strategy. Draws and DQ/screwjob finishes are like blood in wrestling: they can be great when used sparingly, but no use is better than overuse.

I'm pretty sure they did it so that challengers like Hansen and Brody could lose without being pinned. The idea was that Bruno or Backlund would win by kicking their asses and then calmly strolling out the cage door. I don't know of any WWWF cage match that wasn't a feud ender.

I haven't seen so much as a millisecond of Game of Thrones and I still probably won't watch this live. The Network makes it too easy to cherry-pick after the fact, which is a necessity with these interminable 4-hour PPVs.

I have no real opinion on Satin's reporting one way or the other, but Sasha walking out on the company would seem to lend credence to the idea that she and Bayley were pissed about losing the tag belts.

According to Dave's Geeto obit, the Mongols idea came when he came across a book on Genghis Khan in a library. And as Ricky said, the success of the Mongols tag team led to legions of imitators the same way the success of the Road Warriors led to legions of juiced-up muscleheads in face paint.

It's not just the bell-to-bell in Omega/Okada, it's the way it progressed the rivalry while leaving the door open for another match between the two. It was Omega's first win over Okada after losing at Wrestle Kingdom and going to a time-limit draw at Dominion. And he did it in under 30 minutes after their previous two matches had gone 47 and then 60. But Okada came in with an injured neck, so the win had an asterisk next to it. And it marked only the second time Omega had hit Okada with the One Winged Angel (he hit it at Dominion, but Okada's foot was on the ropes), so the question of whether Okada could survive the move remained unanswered.

Here's something that tempers my enthusiasm somewhat:

The Wajima match really is that bad. You can literally hear the crowd laughing at Magee's offense at the 1:51 mark.

It looks like they're trying to give Bray a split personality. It kind of reminds me of Abyss and Joseph Park. Is Chris Parks part of the creative team? Also, Rambling Rabbit completely no-sold being eaten. That's worse than Hogan popping up from Vader's powerbomb.

Magee was clearly a hell of an athlete, but he was also nowhere near ready for prime time. He couldn't even take an inverted atomic drop properly, and he kept moving out of position for Bret's offense. With that said, it really is astounding that with his look, size, and physical gifts, nobody could figure out how to draw money with him. I guess the issue was that he needed someone who had experience working with guys like Tiger Mask and knew how to really accentuate his strengths. Off the top of my head, I can't think of anyone from that period other than Bret who fit that bill. Looking at the house show results on thehistoryofwwe.com, Magee spent 1987 working with the likes of Terry Gibbs and Frenchy Martin. No wonder he never progressed as a worker.

Aja had a MOTYC with Hikaru Shida last year, so she can still go, although probably not on a nightly basis. With that said, it's a midcard trios match in front of a foreign audience, so she'll most likely just serve up her greatest hits. Do some crowd brawling, hit an uraken or two, maybe whack some people with her garbage can.

WWE is in London for the Money in the Bank go-home shows. This should tell you everything you need to know: But who cares about any of the geeks on Raw and Smackdown when the legendary Bret Hart/Tom Magee match is finally set to see the light of day? I have no idea what's going on in Brazil right now, but Arizona recently legalized nunchucks, so there's your topical item for this week.

I've heard from a few places that Taker really does need the money. I don't know the specifics, but I can only imagine what kind of alimony he has to pay after two divorces. That would explain why he's started hustling for outside bookings (and charging ridiculous money from what I hear) as his in-ring career winds down.

They also announced HHH/Orton for the Saudi show. LMAO.

If 90s WCW was the unauthorized fanfic of 80s WWF, does that make the Saudi shows the unauthorized fanfic of 90s WWF?

Two years before the beginning of the Jumbo/Misawa feud, this is the first high-end All Japan six-man. It should come as no surprise that a match with Kawada and three guys who would end up in WAR would have plenty of hate and violence, although most of it comes from Jumbo's team. Kabuki provides the match's highlight when he unloads on Fuyuki with a punch combination that would leave Bill Dundee green with envy. Overall, though, Jumbo is the star of the show, as he plays the ace role to perfection. He shows enough vulnerability against his lower-ranked opponents to make them look credible, but he's always a chop or a big boot away from reasserting dominance and showing that he's The Man. Jumbo shooting an icy glare at Hara after bodyslamming Fuyuki is such a badass spot. This really is the predecessor to the Jumbo/Misawa and NJPW/WAR multi-mans.

I'm surprised there's no thread for this yet. This was my MOTY for 2018, and I think it would have done well in best-of lists for that year if people still paid attention to NOAH. Nakajima and Kitamiya are collectively known as The Aggression, and in this match at least, they're like a modern-day version of the Holy Demon Army. Shiozaki and Kiyomiya are GoKai, and they're the latest iteration of the venerable veteran/rookie pairing. The Aggression come in with a gameplan to target Shiozaki's injured leg while neutralizing the youngster Kiyomiya, and they execute it to perfection. Great selling from Shiozaki (collapsing when Kitamiya tried to ram him into the turnbuckle is the kind of subtle detail you don't see too much anymore), great heel work from Nakajima (staring into Kiyomiya's eyes and grinning while pinning Shiozaki was a particular highlight), just great stuff all around. If you liked 6/9/95 and 12/6/96, you'll probably dig this as well.

As far as I'm concerned, this is the crown jewel of the NJPW/WAR feud. Both members of Team WAR bleed. Chairs and tables are used as weapons. Guys in martial arts uniforms brawl with the wrestlers and each other. The fans pelt the ring with garbage. Tenryu picks a fight with Masa Saito on commentary. At no point is there even a hint of sportsmanship or fair play. To top it all off, Tenryu beats Koshinaka with a powerbomb and keeps powerbombing him after the match until Saito runs in to break it up. This is everything an interpromotional match should be. Hell, this is everything pro wrestling should be. You need to go out of your way to watch this if you haven't already seen it.