WingedEagle

The Schiavone episode was a real blast with some fun stories, especially the Black Scorpion one noted above. Didn't love the Mooneyham one today. Felt like it never got below the surface.

I cannot imagine saying that, but wish I could. Or even wish I could say a segment is so 2009. Strongly believe you could simply reformat TV a bit today and create a much fresher product even without touching the matches, characters or booking. The delivery mechanism is a big issue.

The armdrags were great and I liked his chops to the body. My biggest gripe is his incredibly over the top selling as though he'd been shot. As in with a firearm. Outside of the Flair matches and certain Dangerous Alliance-era pairings, that really takes me out of a lot of his matches. Its why the Savage matches never rated as anything spectacular in my book. A great example of someone who could deliver when reigned in. Good, not great, because comic book offense doesn't do much for me.

The problem is, these types of thoughts and threads don't come up when the product is good. When Daniel Bryan was being built up for Mania 30, nobody was talking about the problems with the company. So if I search back from Summerslam '13, through the fall, into the Rumble and up until the Raw where it was made clear Bryan was headlining Mania there won't be complaining? Bitching about the product is the path of least resistance. Why can't there be any balance between fandom with blinders on or non-stop negativity?

Night and day with this guy when looking at his work before most of us were introduced to him. Last night I watched him against Hansen from 1979. This was nearly 2 years before their classic, but this was about as great a 7-8 minute frenzied brawl as you'll find and should absolutely be viewed before the more famous iteration. Andre absolute destroys himself with a headbutt to the post. Also features one of my all time favorite visuals of a crowd sprinting away from the wrestlers near the end. Its on New Japan World and should be seen by all.

Don't recall the push or use of Wyatt, as I've never been a fan past the videos leading to his debut and the Shield feud so prefer to see him gone sooner rather than later. On Bryan, if you weren't having him win it made sense to remove him early so that he wasn't the focus at the finish.

I think 2015 was worse, because they were stupid enough to do the same thing again.Big difference. They handled Reigns well enough in the WM build to where the fans were elated to see Reigns get destroyed by Brock. They screwed the pooch bad enough in 2014 to get the fans so riled up that a change in plans was 100% necessary. If we're strictly talking booking, I feel like something that actually killed a territory or promotion is going to win. 1/4/99 Nitro would be in the running but it was the lack of a proper follow up (Goldberg going house and doing what Sting couldn't by destroying the nWo for good) that makes it stand out as garbage. I'm going to pick XPW. Just all of it. Even if they did handle him better post Rumble (which I don't think they really did) that night was a horrible debacle. Think '15 was much more defensible given the health issues Bryan had the year before. Count me in line with those wanting a Bryan win, but this year I understood the decision.

1/4/99 Nitro. Austin heel turn at Mania 17. 2014 Rumble, which was world's worse than 2015.

What if he really never thought highly of Dundee's work?

Run for the hills when the lights in the building go out.

Fuck that was TERRIFIC. Just a brutal, violent, bloody mess. Tearing up the ring was a nice, creative wrinkle. They paid off the low blow at Summerslam and the finish was great. Loved it.

I wouldn't say it was a good match, but Rollins did his best to make it as good as possible and for the first time in forever he was put over strongly as champion. Vastly exceeded expectations.

Surprising lack of traffic here tonight. What happened to PPV White Seth Rollins?

Enjoyed what they did with the kendo sticks and chairs. Suspending them in the cage were at least original spots. A little too slow between spots so far but glad they're thinking outside the box a bit. We'll have to see how they finish it.

Really shocked we're getting Reigns-Wyatt in hour one. How much hocus pocus do folks expect here? Raises a question about what's planned for the rest of the night as you presumably don't want 90+ minutes cold heading into Brock/Taker.

That was definitely a surprise. And a pleasant one. Not sure if Zeb is part of the act going forward or not, but I am satisfied with this delivery.

Will be very surprised if Lesnar doesn't bleed.

Looking forward to the main event quite a bit. Can't imagine they'll go with anyone who's been a regular on TV recently in the Cena challenge which has me thinking NXT or someone returning. Also clear that Reigns is still earmarked for a huge spot at Mania, so presumably they'll start trying to make him look ready for that at some point -- perhaps tonight? Undercard also looks acceptable. Bottom line, this looks like a sneaky great show or one that will wildly disappoint. Not expecting middle of the road.

What happened to AJ?

This playlist is a godsend. I can check out 1-2 matches in the morning before heading to work, which feels like a real treat. Keep 'em coming!

Have you looked at Ditch's list for post-2000? Roughly 35 matches to start with there.

Thanks, will definitely look into the Inoki matches. Absolutely loved how he worked heel against Khan.

Any more recs? Haven't seen a ton that's highly touted.

Parv, I get the frustration but consider using your ballot as a measure to counterbalance those that you find out of wack. I'm sure many would like to see your ballot.

I watch because its my team. When the Jets were 3-12 in 1995 I went and set in the upper deck freezing my balls off to see us go 3-13. Then came Keyshawn, then came 1-15 and then came Peyton Manning staying in school and us trading down. Most years are like that. But eventually things fall your way and you get '98 and a conference title game in Denver, and then '09-'10 and back to back title games. Eventually, maybe, perhaps, in my lifetime we'll win the big one. Have to stick with your team because things will turn around.