NintendoLogic

So do you no longer consider the Dream Rush tag to be the greatest match of all time?

At the risk of sidetracking this thread (feel free to break it off), I don't know that Steamboat was significantly more graceful than Shawn. For one thing, I always thought his overhead chop from the top rope looked goofy as hell. And saying that Shawn didn't work from underneath enough strikes me as a rather novel criticism. The most common complaint is that he spent most of the match getting his ass kicked and then Jesused up and made the comeback. It's true that he didn't get as many flash pins as Steamboat (although he did go for quite a few), but that's countered somewhat by the fact that he had the Sweet Chin Music as his great equalizer. I'll have a detailed review of Bret/Owen in my ***** match thread, but I'll just start by saying that it's great. The Austin matches are better, but it's still easily a top ten match in WWF/E history.

I've heard lots of good things about Sami Callihan, but he's probably too small for the WWE.

Gay marriage is at risk of becoming the Lex Luger of political issues. It's a huge draw among certain segments of the fanbase, but if it keeps getting jobbed out in every main event it appears in, promoters may stop considering it worth the effort to try to get it over.

So how does this set him apart from Michaels?

From the most recent F4W: This sounds awful.

It looked to me like Hansen was supposed to have injured his lariat arm on the guardrail.

JBL won the title at the Great American Bash on June 27. He did the goosestep at a Munich house show on June 5.

As I recall, JBL's goosestep was actually the impetus for his push. It got him fired from CNBC, and Vince put the title on him to stick it to the liberal media.

Well, I think that Kandori could have had a match like the one at Dreamslam with a number of wrestlers (from an in-ring standpoint, not storyline-wise). But Hokuto couldn't have had that match with anyone but Kandori.

I recently watched Shinobu Kandori's WWWA title defense against Manami Toyota and was shocked at how much I enjoyed it. I'd even go so far as to say that Kandori is the unsung heroine of 90s joshi. She brings an aura of violence and legitimacy to her matches the same way Brock did at Extreme Rules, albeit on a much smaller scale. I'd always taken it as an article of faith that Akira Hokuto brought Kandori up to her level in the Dreamslam match. But as I see more of each of their work, I'm increasingly convinced that Kandori was the main driver of that match.

I've softened my stance on Hashimoto somewhat. I can get into his matches that are primarily strike-based, but he loses me when he spends too much time on the mat. This match is a particularly egregious example of the latter. Having to sit through the two of them playing grabass on the mat for 15 minutes was torture.

Sorry, but the opposite is true. He brings up other sports to argue against those who say there aren't problems in wrestling. He's mentioned the 1994 Chargers in the past as an example of the dangers of steroid use.

The current Observer says that Cena's post-match promo wasn't part of the script and nobody knew what was going on when it happened. If that's true, holy shit. I don't think he's ever gone into business for himself like that before.

So if the WWE thinks he's that much of a risk, why are they paying him $5 million?

I don't think Booker going over would have made him break through. Most of the focus would have been toward building up Goldberg regardless of who won.

On today's Observer Radio, Dave talked about how the WWE's mindset is to have Brock put over as many of their guys as possible before he flakes. Feel free to kick me in the balls if I ever say that the WWE should be given the benefit of the doubt.

Here's what Dave says: Outstanding.

Do you think Dana White would have booked Brock to lose if he could control the outcomes?

It's like that one guy at DVDVR said. This wasn't Cena as Superman, this was Cena as John McClane. I wasn't really a fan of the "you won the battle, but I won the war" buildup for Taker/HHH, but I think it would work better in this situation. While Cena's gone, they could have Brock plow through the roster in straight wrestling matches and play it up that Cena only won because he used a chain. At the very least, let's see how this plays out on Raw before we declare this to be the worst storyline in the history of narrative fiction.

If nothing else, last night's performance should put Warrior/Sid comparisons to rest.

The list of guys who can do a ton of jobs and keep their drawing power isn't a long one.

I question the wisdom of putting Cena over, especially if he's going to be taking time off. But saying that Brock is just another guy now like Dave and Bryan did is ridiculous hyperbole.

I thought Cena and Lesnar bled hardway.

Cross-posted from DVDVR. Orton/Kane was pretty bad. Lots of pointless walk-and-brawl with a your turn-my turn finishing stretch. And Zack Ryder came across as even more of a chump, which I didn't think was possible. It almost seemed like they were going for a double turn with Show being a sore loser and Rhodes leaving under his own power. Has there ever been a good tables match? Sheamus/Bryan was fucking great. It's easily the WWE MOTY and probably the overall one as well. Not only that , Bryan looked like a total boss. He won his loss by submission (albeit Austin/Dusty style with the face passing out), and he lost the first fall by disqualification by kicking Sheamus' ass too badly. I love it when heels get intentionally DQed to set up a fall. I was disappointed that the jobbers from St. Louis didn't heel on the Chicago crowd by mentioning the Cardinals. Punk/Jericho is a match that would have been ten times better with blood. It was dull in spots, but it really picked up from the fire extinguisher spot on. I especially liked them pointing out how stupid it is to observe a rope break in a no-DQ match. Punk kicking out of a Codebreaker on a steel chair was a bit much, though. And shouldn't Jericho have been disqualified for drinking within 12 hours of a WWE event? No Kharma was a letdown, but it's good to see Layla again. It seemed to me like Nikki was going into business for herself by kicking out at one on everything. I guess they're going to save Kharma killing the Bellas for Raw Starring Brock Lesnar. Cena/Lesnar was an awesome spectacle. Lesnar came across like the biggest prick ever. And Cena spent most of the match bleeding and selling, which are two things he's really good at. Finish was shit, but what are you going to do? Really good show overall.