WingedEagle

Really agreed with your thoughts on the Hash G1 match. As good as it was (very good) it felt like it had another gear that was never reached, especially with everything that led into it.

The only thing Brock has been involved in since returning that was not in some way special or a waste was being laid out by the job squad a few weeks ago. This was nothing more than a glorified squash but good enoughb for that that it more than maintained and enhanced his aura.

I'm with you that there was nothing so special about it. Just haven't really had that kind of squash from someone like Brock on TV in a while so while it was unique it was nothing blowaway from my perspective. Just fun.

Balor-Owens was a low-level MOTYC for me and while it feels like the standout match of the week given the production and fact this was a big show, I need to rewatch Cena/Cesaro anyways. Biggest standout was the commentary as I was never clawing at my ears and it actually brought he potato salad and slaw rather than take nearly everything away from the proverbial table. Between Cena/Cesaro, this show and Dragon Gate its been a hell of a week. With Dominion to follow tomorrow. i stayed off of the Twittah Machine (TM Bully Ray) to watch this spoiler free which means I should have no trouble doing the same for Dominion. Looking forward to it. Happy 4th e'ebody.

The Return of Musgrave is definitely a July 4 special.

El-P, give me 5 to watch.

Never understood the love. Maybe if I grew up watching him and learned wrestling through WMC TV I'd feel differently. He has a few good matches and brawls. Nothing I couldn't live without and certainly nothing that left any real imprint on me as a fan. Just a guy who was there.

Pop & Dunc do it again. Had Aldridge passed on SAS he would've been permanently been branded as Zach Randolph's crown in my book, but he's now got a chance to establish a legit legacy. I am so stoked to see what they can do this year. If I weren't a firm believer that you only get one team in every sport I'd have switched over to them by now. As it is I think its high time I picked up a Duncan jersey.

Lawler and Funk? Funk could be anywhere from top 25 to bottom 25. Can't imagine ranking Lawler.

Offhand, Hansen and Bryan are the only Americans with a chance of eclipsing him. And frankly I don't see Hansen having a chance. But I'm open to it. Curious if anyone has Cena quite that high. Probably the only other domestic worker who may make it to the same ballpark.

Definitely interesting numbers about Russell. Its good to get a reality check on his & others from that era's greatness from time to time. Some get dismissed a little too easily but with Russ there's clearly reason to keep his name in the discussion. On the FA front today, SAS keeping Green at 11 per when Carroll went for 15 and Brandon Knight got 12 is a hell of a deal. If LMA doesn't sign there he is dead to me. Just stay in PDX and enjoy the rain and long summers. I cannot wait to see them reload. Chandler to PHX is interesting albeit likely a bit of an overpay at his age, but absent another piece (perhaps a Bledsoe trade when LMA doesn't follow) I'm not sure where it gets them. Also love to see Dallas flaming out. My Nets clearly had the best day. Nothing like spending big to try and avoid handing off a lottery pick with no hope for another 4 years. Thank god for wrestling and playoff basketball.

OJ, no one's suggesting it was a one man team. But it was absolutely a one star team. Jordan doesn't win a couple big games without Pax & Kerr & others nailing a couple shots. Do I think he would've won those series without those guys? Absolutely. Someone else always needs to make a play, but as Elliott said they're not in the playoffs, advancing and in a position to do anything without Duncan carrying them on his back every night.

Totally agree, both TV matches were better than the ones you cited from the PPV. Definitely a solid show, but odd when the TV blows it out of the water.

Shoe, you get a chance to check out last week's TV yet? Probably the best hour of TV this year and in a long time. Nak/Strong was terrific and the 6-man was a MOTYC.

I wouldn't say its bad faith but won't challenge you if you believe it to be the case. I wouldn't be at all surprised - or blame anyone - if people in these circles have some Flair fatigue. They may have been watching his greatest hits and b-sides for years, some many times over, which may make it harder to appreciate him in the context of fresher work.

Thanks, appreciate the walkthrough of how you approach it. Do you generally find you can get more excited about a match with that kind of narrative or are game to appreciate either style if done well?

I had high hopes for Reigns-Sheamus but was pretty disappointed. Felt flat the whole way without ever really kicking into another gear, almost as though they were never on the same page.

I can only imagine it was based on seeing the Steiners matches and their other work in WCW (if I recall they had a GREAT match with Rhodes & Windham) and extrapolating from there based on praise for their AJPW work. But that's pure speculation.

I'm not sure its gospel they sucked, but how many good matches did they have as a team unless it was against the the top AJ tags? Other than the Steiner affair. And their matches vs. the AJ crew were at least to me clearly inferior than any other tags the big guns were throwing out at the time. Not horrible, but nothing that matched their singles work or Gordy/Hansen Gordy/Freebirds.

Could we name 250 better wrestlers from the last 18 months? How many this year alone? The insanity!

What wrestler hasn't deviated from a single-minded purpose like seems to be the case against Flair here? Surely everyone you list above have plenty of matches where their offense i more than keyed in to a single body part. If Flair just doesn't click with you for some reason that's one thing, but that criticism seems to hold him to an unfair standard that should apply across the board. Never mind the fact that it would likely lead to a lot more boring, less interesting matches if each one had to follow such a strict path.