NintendoLogic

I think Dave is being worked by his sources here. They've told him that Stephanie's most overbearing moments are her being ordered to be 1998 Vince McMahon rather than what she sees her character as, which doesn't pass the laugh test. Obviously Vince has the final say, but I'd be shocked if Stephanie wasn't in his ear about how she should be portrayed.

The only bag I care for in wrestling is the one Damien is stored in.

Because anyone knows who the fuck Stephy is already outside of the US wrestling bubble ? That was Dave's point. Stephanie is a big deal in wrestling but means nothing outside of it. The goal is to make her a star outside the wrestling world.

So, um...according to the latest Observer, WWE's goal in bringing in Rousey is to make Stephanie a bigger mainstream star. Yeah. Yeah.

For southofheavy: you had identified UWFi as a blind spot you wanted to fill, so here's a match that's...interesting, to say the least. Yoji Anjo/Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Masahiro Chono/Hiroyoshi Tenzan, 11/25/95

OK, I watched this. The opening minutes were interesting because of how one-sided they were. Jinsei was shrugging off Hayato's kicks, bulldozing him on the collar and elbow tie-up, and eating him up on the mat. Jinsei cutting off Hayato's comeback by destroying his leg was also quite compelling. Unfortunately, they lost me when Hayato blew off both the leg work and a chokeslam from the top rope. By the end, they were just hitting each other with bombs and I had checked out completely. This did nothing to disabuse me of my disdain for lucharesu.

It's one thing if opponents are bumping into the ropes off of standard offense. But it's usually Rey who headscissors or drop toeholds his opponent into the ropes.

The Wrestlecrap board was a hotbed of anti-Rey sentiment when I was posting there in 2010.

A WWE-produced minis division would be such an absurd trainwreck that I actually really want to see it.

I've been under the weather for most of the week, and I'm going out of town this weekend. I should have my match review up on Tuesday.

I'm not really sure what kind of character work in the ring Moon's character would lend itself toward. It was far worse when Wade Barrett was pushed as this bare-knuckle champion but would always lose strike exchanges to guys like Orton.

My pick for Jetlag was Cena/RVD from ONS 2006.

I'm mildly surprised that WWE allowed him to do the 619 after it literally killed a guy. Sure, it was a freak accident. But so was the Muscle Buster to Tyson Kidd.

Actually, Meltzer is completely dismissive of the idea of Shawn as a GOAT contender. Sure, Bret and Shawn have been pushed as all-time greats by the official WWE narrative. But so have HHH and Cena, and I don't think fans buy them on that level. And WWE fans voted Bret as the greatest champion of all time during a period when he was on the outs with the company. Having the narrative on your side helps, but only so much.

I wouldn't say I hate Menounos, but her beating Beth Phoenix at Wrestlemania didn't sit well with me.

Man, folks are dropping out of this project like it's a New Year's resolution to go to the gym more often. I'm still on board, for the record.

I kind of wish Ronda had chosen a different theme. I just can't view Bad Reputation as a badass anthem anymore. All I can think of is that scene from Shrek.

Well, that explains why the women's Rumble was the main event. And why Stephanie was on commentary.

"She won't tell you so" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

I'm pretty sure Booker has never actually seen an episode of Gilligan's Island.

The last few minutes of the Rumble had me really wanting to see a proper Roman/Shinsuke singles match. Are Rey's knees better? I thought he wore the baggy pants to cover up his massive braces.

Hasn't that always been the rule during the brand split?

I'll try to watch the whole show sometime this week, but I decided to check out the main event due to it receiving more or less universal praise. I have nothing really to add. There were some WWE storytelling tropes that would probably annoy me more on a rewatch, but on initial viewing, it was incredibly gripping pro wrestling. If it's not the MOTY so far, it's a close #2. Gargano has to be the best babyface in wrestling right now. Generating actual wrestling heat (as opposed to the "this is awesome"/"fight forever" variety) from NXT fans is a borderline miraculous accomplishment.

Reviewed Spoiler/David. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/33928-spoiler-vs-david-von-erich-92878-houston-wrestling/?p=5829647

SirEdger assigned this match to me as part of the Secret Santo project (note to mods: this needs to be moved to 1979). During his lifetime, David was regarded by most in the business as the best worker of the Von Erichs. However, revisionist history has deemed him to be the worst of the "good" Von Erichs. I'm not sure any of the Von Erichs were all that good, although Mike and Chris were obviously on a completely different level of terrible. I do like what I've seen of the Spoiler. He was a solid brawler and quite athletic for a 70s big man. I also get a kick out of the fact that he was billed from Singapore. Masked wrestlers with completely random kayfabe hometowns need to make a comeback. As for the match, these two obviously weren't setting out to steal the show, and this isn't a barnburner by any stretch of the imagination. We get fifteen minutes of basic matwork, bland clubbering, and 70s heel tactics like hair pulls and back rakes without much of a storyline hook to tie it all together. The only real excitement comes from David's attempts to remove Spoiler's mask. Other than that, the highlight of the match was David on his knees crawling between Spoiler's legs and then turning around to hit a picture-perfect dropkick. Nothing about this was actively offensive to my sensibilities, but it never got out of first gear. After I finished this match, I watched some footage of David in Florida as a heel television champion, which was far more entertaining.