NintendoLogic

Sure, but plenty of guys with more power than Vince have faced their reckoning over the past couple of years. The thing that gets me is that he's managed to have it both ways. He's brought wrestling to a peak of mainstream respectability, with billion-dollar TV deals and sponsorships and the like, while being beneath the notice of the legitimate media when it suits him.

I'm always surprised when stuff like this gets traction while Vince McMahon, who has been credibly accused of far worse, gets off scot-free.

I'd say this is at least as much a reflection of how terrible the men have been this year.

I keep hearing about what a great heel Carmella is and how much heat she gets. But whenever I watch her matches, she might as well be wrestling in a library.

Wagner made a little over $250k for losing his mask off a $625k gate for Triplemania. It should be noted that AAA was banking on a $1 million gate, but all the false advertising they had done during the year ended up biting them in the ass. Regardless, it's pretty much impossible for CMLL to go out of business, so they can pay whatever it takes to seal the deal within reason, especially if it means cockblocking AAA. I guess there's concerns about upsetting the salary structure, but the recent Park-driven business upswing has meant more money in everyone's pockets, so I don't think that'll be an issue. As for Rush, his hair is probably the most valuable prize in lucha other than the masks of Santo, Park, and Atlantis, so his asking price would be way more than $30k.

Rick Steiner squashes from the last couple years of WCW are my current guilty pleasure. There's something I find perversely entertaining about a legit shooter being given carte blanche to just maul his opponents and them just taking it because they probably figure he'll fuck them up even worse if they try to fight back. I honestly think that current wrestlers would benefit from studying them as a guide to making matches look more like an actual fight.

I've finally made selections for 2018. I also updated my top three for 1973 and 2016.

I don't think it's fucked up at all. We can debate how this era's best matches compare to those of the past, but baseline match quality has unquestionably increased. It's like how home run totals that would have been earth-shattering in the 1910s were nothing special ten years later. We're in a workrate live ball era, and people's expectations have shifted accordingly. Also, a show in the 80s and 90s with four ***+ matches most likely would have had strong or at least competent booking leading into and going out of it. It takes a lot more in the ring these days to overcome the crappy booking. I think it'd be more accurate to say that he views modern epics as having the acting of The Godfather and the special effects of Infinity War. Say what you want about Omega, but he clearly puts a great deal of thought into his matches. On a possibly related note, here's a Dave stylistic quirk I noticed recently. The only finisher whose name he capitalizes is the One Winged Angel. I don't know if it means anything.

The only purpose is putting out content. Nothing else matters. Have you ever had to write a paper with a minimum page/word requirement and you just threw out whatever bullshit popped in your head to hit the mark? That's WWE's booking right now.

Like a couple of others, I was shocked to see Hansen continue to take shots at Vader's head even after the injury. It actually caused me to lose a lot of respect for Hansen. It makes me wonder if Vader blowing off the lariat was intended as a not-so-subtle fuck-you for being so reckless.

I'm generally no shrinking violet when it comes to blood in wrestling, but this match made me queasy when I watched it recently. The visual of Hase's chest covered in blood while gnawing on Muta's forehead is what did it for me. I can't help but think of how much blood he must have accidentally ingested.

The only man who could make capris seem badass. RIP.

I've argued this before, but I think there's a strong correlation between the lack of blood in wrestling and the increase in high-risk moves. Instead of fighting through blood loss, wrestlers show their toughness by overcoming getting dropped on their heads and necks. And street fights have to rely on weapon shots and stunt bumps to get over the brutality of the stipulation.

I just noticed something interesting. For the longest time, the highest-rated Vader match on Cagematch was the Flair match at Starrcade. After Vader died, a few people on Twitter asked Dave to name his favorite Vader match and he said the Mutoh match from the 1991 G1. Lo and behold, that match shot to the top of the rankings. To be fair, I think it's more a case of people being more aware of the match since it wasn't taped for commercial release. Still, interesting.

For Grimmas, here's one of my favorite lucha matches of the 21st century. If you've already seen it, let me know and I'll come up with something else.

The bio in the Observer was excellent, as expected. Reading about how badly he wanted to be inducted into the WWE HOF while he was still alive was heartbreaking.

I'm puzzled by Dave always referring to Takeshi as the Johnny Carson of Japan. I've never heard anyone else make that analogy, and the two don't seem all that similar to me.

Not trying to start an argument, but this is like calling Michael Jordan one of the top 3 shooting guards ever.

I thought I had become pretty well desensitized to wrestler deaths at this point, but this one hit me pretty hard. More so than anyone since Eddie. RIP.

Carmella is great at bumping and stooging, but she kills her matches dead as soon as she takes control. Alexa beating up opponents twice her size may be ridiculous, but at least she does more on offense than stick her tongue out while working weardown holds.

Michelle McCool is up there as well.

Oh, fuck off.

Ronda's actually a heck of a seller, even though this probably isn't the role she should be in.

Are they seriously billing Nia Jax as 6'2 now?

The problem with matches like these is that they can't do anything to overshadow the stage-managed set pieces so they have to spend the bulk of the match in first gear.