WingedEagle

I saw Birdman yesterday and after a while I just wanted it to end. I felt that way about this match pretty soon as well, though the acting in Birdman was at least great.

I was hoping I would. But it feels like a third rate parity of [insert Batman heel of choice].

I was open to the Dust Brothers gimmick at first, and I was wrong. Its garbage. Give me Dustin Rhodes again. Any chance HIAC #1 will be as good as the video preceding it?

Can't believe how much I enjoyed the Bellas' match. That dropkick was awesome and I liked the finish as well. Still trying to figure out the opener. The near falls felt incredibly forced and sloppy, I didn't really buy into the arm work and all that worked for me were Cesaro's signature spots. I hope they have something in mind for either/both of them because I don't get Dolph wining 2 consecutive falls if they'll both be back to business as usual tomorrow night.

Ambrose/Rollins has the potential to be great and if it is the show will be a good one. I'm not excited for Cena/Orton but given low expectations think its possible I'll be pleasantly surprised as its rare for Cena to have a bad big match. If Cesaro/Ziggler gets time I'll likely enjoy that and hope for a Henry heel turn or Rusez squash there. Usos should be fun again and hopefully they'll find another team to match them against going forward. Sheamus will be a good opportunity to check in on the game if its started by then.

I like the strike exchanges when done infrequently. Lately it feels like they're a part of every single Goto, Shibata and Ishii match which becomes more than overkill when these guys aren't in the same match. I also don't like when they'll stand there and actually invite their opponent to strike them, as was the case in Ishii/Shibata's G1 match last year. Something like Naito/Ishii furiously throwing elbows or forearms and not simply accepting it? I'm all for it as long as its not done up and down the card.

I actually think Taue vs. Akiyama will be an interesting call for me. I would've said Taue was the no-brainer choice for years, but Akiyama has managed to keep it going for so long now and has produced excellent matches in a lot of sub-optimal settings. We'll see. I'm really looking forward to comparing Taue & Akiyama. I've seen little of Akiyama post '04 or so but if he has as much quality stuff throughout that next decade as it sounds like, I'm not sure I can keep Taue ahead of him.

Awesome. Glad to find more love Mr. Taue. At the end of the day I'm prety sure he'll rank below Misawa/Kawada/Kobashi because of the singles matches that each has on their resume, but he just might be my favorite out of the bunch. He pulls off basically the perfect heel character with the facials and mannerisms to go along with it all the while fitting within the world that is All Japan. Just so unique. What an era.

+1 on the Takayama match. I think the point about Nakamura being able to bring out the best in poor opponents is both accurate as well as interesting. I don't think Tanahashi could've done as much with workers like Fale or Sakuraba (which in hindsight as a MOTYC is even more incredible as an all time performance), but I wonder how to weigh his output vs. lesser opponents versus Tanahashi's or others against elite talent. One of those debates that makes this all fun.

I'm a fan of ratings for that reason but absolutely get why some folks aren't. What are your thoughts on Taue after watching all of those matches? Sounds like you were a big fan of his as well, as I can't imagine someone really being down on him from that era, but where does he fit in big picture?

Its up to each individual and what's right or wrong for them. We won't all agree in each case and that's fine. Hopefully we can agree that someone is not wrong in making a personal decision on whether to consider a Benoit or Invader.

If you're able to watch someone wrestle without being distracted by anything particularly heinous they did outside the ring that's fine. If you're not, I think that's also okay. El-P touched on a distinction with Benoit/Invader that also makes sense for me -- I saw most of Benoit's career and highlights before June 2007, not after. I'm rewatching PPVs on the Network and depending on the match and how I'm feeling may watch a Benoit match, or I may skip it. Lately its kind of empty for me watching it, but I think at the end of the day I'm going to leave him off of my list for the simple reason that I really do not want to go back and watch him wrestle. Whether its because of what he did in the ring or otherwise, I don't want to spend my wrestling time with him. There are others I'm dying to watch more of and those who were always favorites that still are. But if I really don't want to watch your matches I can't say you're one of the 100 greatest ever. I haven't seen any Invader and I'm not sure I want to. I may look to check out some depending on what certain people may recommend, but perhaps I'll allocate that time to someone else instead and won't regret that either.

For a second there I forgot we couldn't like posts here. Anyways, great.

Wow. Babyface monster Vader. That is something. Great find.

I just got started on '94 after abandoning '93 for much of the summer before putting in some OT there to finish it last week. I'm through the first disc but doing my best to avoid recaps of the whole year or individual matches/segments until I've gone through them. Still the best way to pack in some diverse wrestling at any time.

I thought Sumo Hall capacity was about 75% of Budokan rather than 50%. Didn't NJPW commonly run Budokan a few times per year before things went to hell with shooters?

Agreed. And if you wanted to be great more often than not, or at least when it counted, that's fine in my book. Separately, as far as off nights go, are we talking about someone's rep for taking it easy on non-taped house shows, or a substantial record of going easy on non-TV/PPV? If its about rep, that seems to fall in with the reasons we can't really rate Jim Londos, Strangler Lewis or anyone else lacking footage.

They're not the same, but both can be done to death and rendered a complete joke, or effective if used sparingly. "No selling" is very important and pretty much necessary in many great matches because otherwise they'd all follow the same pattern and become pretty predictable if every finisher or big move was the end. As an example, Okada's Rainmaker has been built up for a couple years now as *the* finish. If he hits it, the match is over. We're getting to the point where you know it'll be teased and countered a few times and those spots are basically the equivalent of someone else's finisher being kicked out of b/c until it happens you know there's no risk of the match ending. But I imagine (hope) they'll eventually build to someone kicking out of it, which will add a whole other layer to his matches thereafter. I realize that's a bit of a tangent, but the point is that what works is to keep things diverse and the audience guessing -- if you go too far with no selling whereby nothing matters or eventually the other extreme where nothing but a finisher matters, you make it pretty hard to build heat for anything and it just becomes a waiting game.

Weren't they hyping it that someone from Team WWF would turn rather than any surprise new faces showing up? That was Survivor Series later in the year when Angle defected to The Alliance. Got it, thanks. Were they pushing potential debuts at the Invasion show?

Weren't they hyping it that someone from Team WWF would turn rather than any surprise new faces showing up?

AH. Then disregard

They signed Bruno to a lucrative contract before inducting him into the HOF. They are going to try and get their money's worth out of that contract by promoting him as a larger than life legend, as they should.

This. More buys than any non-Mania PPV ever (and more than many Manias for that matter). More than Sting/Hogan or anything else WCW did. More than any established WWE PPV brand such as Rumble or Summerslam. I also agree 100% that there was almost no way Vince was going to allow a WCW team, or any outsider supposedly representing WCW to look strong against WWE. Hell, Austin got the strongest heel push of anyone associated with the Invasion and he certainly wasn't viewed as WCW guy. A team of Goldberg, Flair, Sting & co. may have done more business on this show, but certainly wasn't necessary and given what they would've cost I imagine you maximize the show's profitability by putting over DDP, Booker T & co. as equals to Team WWE heading into that event.

It's stupid. Show that gif to any non-wrestling fan and I'll guarantee you it'll be met with laughter. That's the thing, though. People who share similar tastes to you look at posters on PWO/WKO etc. and assume that they're being over-analytical but it's really just using common sense. That's a stupid, business exposing spot that makes no sense, especially when you consider they were a half hour into their match. A non-wrestling fan will find that match and every other ridiculous and likely laugh at it. I know non-wrestling fans who respect the fact that I watch wrestling, but I've yet to find those who are not fans but open to wrestling in general. You're either in or out. That spot in the GIF is absolutely business-exposing. If I saw a show full of that I'd probably be yawning and looking at my watch by the end of the night. But once? I don't want all my wrestling to be true to logic, realistic and believable. That's UFC and I'm burned out on it. I want wrestling to be realistic, feature mat-wrestling, brawling, flying, hot finishes, selling, no-selling, sprints, spots, comedy, blood and storytelling. I just don't want all of that at once or non-stop, whether it be on a 3 hour Raw, a 4 hour comp or a house show. Keep it diverse and throw different elements so the audience is on their heels and constantly seeing different things as effective. Once it all fits the same homogenized profile you've dug yourself a pretty deep hole.

No idea where Shawn will end up ranking on my list, but I can't imagine lower than to 10-15 among American workers. I love bumpy Shawn, DX Shawn and especially post-comeback. Big fan of the Angle, Jericho, Cena, Batista and Taker matches along with lots of his TV stuff in the early-comeback era when he was a regular TV worker. Not much love for the HHH epics other than Summerslam '02. I'm about to start the '94 yearbook, so between that and making my way through PPVs on the Network (up to Survivor Series '03) I'll have plenty of opportunities to narrow where he fits on the list.