WingedEagle

Really enjoyed last week's episode. That's the best I've ever seen of Hernandez, which is a pretty big feather in Puma's cap. The death match also wasn't bad even if it was a little more LU/cinematic than I prefer out of a match. I absolutely love all of the vignettes and other out of the ring features. Many are ridiculously over the top and campy but done with such a wink and a nod that I don't mind.

He is and has been a heel to a solid part of the core audience. Turning him a this point will turn him babyface to that chunk and heel to the other (kids & co).

Taue/Pippen: No argument on Scottie as the premier defender of his era (though I might tip the hat to Jordan for being in the discussion after him and Rodman), but I liked Pippen as an overall comp. Neither are in the all-time great discussion like their peers (Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi vs. Jordan), but clearly belong somewhere in the next rung. Jordan: Gotta give him a pass on the way up as everyone needs to learn the ropes. Once he was crowned, he did not relinquish the throne. No jobs from that point forward -- all hail Jordan! Do you prefer Erving for HBK? Michaels doesn't have an '83 on his resume (as Robin to Mose's Batman), though you could argue the "Mr. Wrestlemania" title is a close comp.

Somehow I just came across this thread today. Since wrestling & NBA are my 2 favorites...I love it. Been a blast reading through it. Rodman is somewhere along the lines of a a Hayes or Gordy but with a much, much longer Freebird run. Way too quick to be the Worm. Arn Anderson also seems like a good fit, but not enough all time performances from him as you need a surefire HOFer. Arn might be a good comp for Robert Horry unless you're sour on him, in which case you lose anyways. Some other thoughts: Taue = Scottie Pippen Tenryu = Shaq (Vader doesn't rank highly enough even if its a stronger fit) Shawn Michaels = Karl Malone (Dr. J is a better fit but the hunting comp seals this one) No one gets compared to Jordan because every wrestler has to job at some point.

Just saw a tweet from Sempervive that Tommy Rogers has passed away. Pour out a little for half of a fun tag team from the 80s.

I'm with that almost all the way. There are instances where someone takes a move and then pulls out something of their own before collapsing that leaves both men down. I don't want it repeatedly and like a natural flow into & out of that kind of sequence. Otherwise, there are really a ton of ways to sequence from wrestler X's big move / control to wrestler Y's comeback: 1) X & Y are both selling a move's impact and Y happens to recover quicker. 2) Perhaps X takes his time going for a cover, working the crowd/recovering before transitioning to the next sequence which allows Y to break things up with his own offense. 3) Y counters or reverses X's next attempted move. I'm sure some folks here with better recall can come up with a dozen more, but personally I'm looking for some kind of daylight that creates an opening for a potential swing in momentum & control. Matches where these spots are well paced rather than rushed create a ton of suspense and doubt as to the direction and outcome. There's at ime and place for nearly one-sided affairs, but if you take that too far you're talking squashes. Leave a match time to breathe and I'll rarely do anything but applaud these sequences.

Wait, what ? Did I miss an episode here ? Ha was just suggesting that looking like she does a couple ticks shy of 49 makes her much more of a living legend than anything Larry Z has done.

Lilian Garcia is almost 49. Time for Zbyszko to stop stealing her gimmick.

IC Title Chamber -- beyond awful. I didn't like a single thing here except for the winner and the post-match. Love Bryan calling him The Ryback and Ryback calling him Dan. Looked like they had a great time out there and it was nice for a couple good friends to share that.

Is that the first delayed vertical suplex used as an actual delay?

This Chamber match belongs in a chamber pot. What a shitshow. Between 2 apparent shoot issues with pods and workers who can't figure out for the life of them how to improvise the situation, this is an absolute mess.

SOMEBODY GON' GET THEY ASS KICKED. FIVE MILLION STARS FOR THIS MATCH. WE HAVE A NEW MATCH OF THE NIGHT.

Cena vs. Owens -- MOTYC. No idea how I rate that versus the Rumble 3-way, Brock/Reigns or Nak/Ibushi, but its right there. -- John Cena delivered one of the best performances of his career, and one of the most selfless I can recall any star ever delivering. He gave Owens everything, was beaten throughout, let him kick out of every one of his big moves and then went down clean as can be. -- Its premature & sounds crazy, but that's the type of performance that merits Wrestler of the Year consideration for Cena, either now or perhaps retrospectively. Performances like that, versus Zayn and others that put over new stars are just so rare and special and can only be delivered by someone at his level. Just incredible.

Divas Title: - Went to the bathroom and talked to the wife. - Put away the WON from the last month or so that I hadn't stapled yet. - Got ice cream. - Saw the finish on replay. Good stuff.

Tag Title Chamber: The Good: - Everything when Cesaro/Kidd were in. - Kidd loudly calling for his elbow off the Cesaro corner spot. Got a kick out of this. - Torito's rana on Cesaro. - Best the Ascension has looked. - Cesaro's Okada turnbuckle dropkick. - Did I mention Kidd & Cesaro? The Bad: - Kalisto spot from the top. - Torito spot from the top. - Everything after Kidd & Cesaro were eliminated. PTP'ers & New Day didn't gel well.

Perro Aguayo Jr.

The All Japan crew had the distinct advantage of working with each other for all of their big matches. When did Hash ever have anyone at at level to work with? I don't want to knock him for it, but he simply doesn't have the sheer number of classics they do, even if he has just as many good or better matches. That's the one aspect of comparing them I'm not sure how to get around. Similar to Tenryu in that regard, but Tenryu has the '86 tags, Jumbo match and a few more legit classics than Hash.

What does the Torch offer that the Observer doesn't? Not trolling, just actually curious. I learned about the Torch outside of an MSG house show in February 1993 and immediately subscribed. That went on for a year or 2 until I found out about the WON and haven't looked back since.

In grad school I'd also fill the apartment with a smoke machine before putting on my Japan dvd comps. The then-gf/now-wife always knew what was going on before she came over.

El Rey puts up the complete video of the big match from each week at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLszDUngAaPFaS1RjnDnabQnGXIgFdZk4V You can google and find just about anything else on youtube or DM but I'm not sure they're all collected in one spot.

Echoing Shoe's thoughts. I've stayed on top of the last 6-8 weeks and am looking forward to starting with it on tv this week rather than downloading every Saturday. Its easy to watch and along with Lucha Underground a great change of pace to WWE that easily flies by and always gives you something entertaining.

Locks -- Flair, Misawa, Kawada, Kobashi, Tenryu, Daniel Bryan Danielson. 3 other spots? Akiyama, Taue, Cena, Hashimoto, Hansen, Jumbo feel like strong possibilities but we'll see who else sneaks in.

Is foreign memorabilia in any way accessible to those of us in the US today?

Very, very interesting career as you highlighted. I'd completely forgotten about the ROH title run. But yeah, far from 100 at the end of the day.

My bad.