WingedEagle

This is exactly the point. If you have no basis for comparison you've got zero ability to distinguish between what you hate, dislike, like and love. If you go through life only watching ***** matches, soon enough you're probably going to think some of those really aren't that special. The whole point isn't to fall in love with what's merely mediocre, but to identify for yourself why some matches blow those others out of the water. I love nothing more than a great steak, but for a number of reasons including cost, health and how it leaves me feeling afterwards, I simply won't have it that often. Not every night can or needs to be 6/9/95.

Seconding that request -- would be great to combine those resources.

Exactly. I think Maron is thoughtfully and necessarily engaging with the type of guests he has and type of product he is looking to put out there. Its probably safe to say that Austin's show isn't reaching quite the same broad demographics, so whether its a conscientious decision or not (and I don't believe that it is the case but simply a question of who and what he is), providing a forum for wrestling guests to freely speak at length is absolutely what his audience is looking for.

I was 12 or so when I first subscribed to the Observer, and within a year picked up a couple Japanese tapes to see what all the fuss was about. At that point the commentary was a *huge* issue for me and kind of tough to overcome. When I was a bit older I began rewatching everything and after a while you very clearly pick up the calls for many moves and the roles of the parties involved. It doesn't bother me in the slightest anymore.

I don't get the uproar. Haven't Britney & others been pulling their own version of this nonsense for almost 15 years now? The kiss with Madonna at the VMA's, the Justin/Janet super bowl, Aguilera's Dirrty video, Paris Hilton / Kardashian sex tapes, etc. What's so special about Miley today?

Not to speak for anyone, but to use your analogy, I think Johnny was getting at the idea that Matt simply wants to analyze the Spurs and not bother watching the games. Which is a whole other thing. Of course, I could be dead wrong in which case let's pretend this never happened and I'll withdraw my application to be a UN translator.

I was going to add the exact same thing as JDW -- the yearbook threads are a hell of a resource for someone who's watched much of what's on the sets, so I would think they should be beyond invaluable for someone going into the material fresh. That's the case for me with a lot of the NJ and some of the joshi, as I'm already familiar with most AJ. The threads in there should provide you with a great sense of the micro and macro context for much of it. John, are your DVDVR pimping posts that Childs mentioned above still available?

I need to arrange a deal where I "buy" a company using that same company's future revenue as the source of payment. Pretty sweet deal! If that future revenue is no lock and entirely contingent upon how you grow it, its not that hot a deal. Just an opportunity for you to either capitalize on or piss away.

Yeah that's the one. It is in the queue.

What he said. There's a place for a host that calls out every inaccuracy or lie they here, and there's also a place for one that provides a forum for a guest to speak freely at length about a variety of topics. These two don't always intersect, and that's okay.

Really depends what you consider a genius. If that means excelling beyond every peer in his profession, then yes, tough to argue the case.

Looking forward to the AJ card.

I've seen most of the touted matches from the highly touted stuff from the glory years during the mid 90s (but quite some time ago). The one person I really need to go back and dig through older material for is Bull. I know Aja, Hokuto & Toyota had the snowflakes flowing quite freely from 92 on, but Bull has a presence and style that's just so different and unique. The way she carries herself in both baby and heel fashion is something else. Purely personal taste but I'm always just a tad more attuned when she's doing her thing than some others.

Yeah add this to the cue. I was thinking about holding off on this until I worked through a bunch of yearbooks, but with only 2 months left in 1992 perhaps I pause and turn to this at that point. We shall see!

2.5 hours. Good lord. I've got a 20 mile run coming up this weekend and was planning on listening to Mooney's best of the 80s NWA podcast, but it may get bumped for this. You know, timely material and all. Sorry, Sean.

I've found he generally connects pretty well on the Rainmaker. He also throws a beautiful dropkick and has a nice elbow off the top. He's not bad at trading big spots when in with Tanahashi, but Red Ink and that awful drop into a bump on the neck that Goto (who I despise) has a version of both need to go. For a guy only so far into having a run of main event matches, that offense plus his selling is enough to leave me pretty optimistic about where he can go as a worker.

Which execution of La Magistral shouldn't be blocked or simply countered by the recipient throwing the protagonist off of him? How about every spot where the guy working underneath stands, waits and catches someone diving on him? Many cradles and pinning sequences in lucha seem so diagrammed, slowly executed and done to an opponent who's not even dazed, much less out on his feet that there's no way I can buy them as legit. If we're extending it to tombstones, what about most Undertaker spots, GTs's, FU's/AA's, or similar spots that require one guy to be lifted and maneuvered into position for the move? Within the context of a fight -- caged or otherwise, they're almost all completely preposterous. I say that generally not minding it one bit. I'm just not clear where we draw the line as far as when cooperation is a bad thing as opposed to something acceptably overlooked.

Completely agree on Naito. I thought he was great in the title match last year vs. Okada but since coming back have not been at all impressed other than vs. Suzuki in the G1, and Suzuki can carry just about any stiff to a good match. I'm apparently in the distinct minority on Tanahashi on PWO as I think he delivers in big matches, but Naito's performance there was too cartoonish for me. I also love Nakamura but man did he and Naito miss or hold back on just about every strike in that match. Negative points to the cameraman for exposing things as much he did there as well, though they need to at least not scream at me that its fake. Then again I enjoyed certain aspects of Ishii/Shibata (beginning and finishing stretch) but do not find much to love about the "let's take turns stiffing the hell out of and attempting to concuss one another" style. If these guys want to try MMA that badly they should go for it, but in the proper forum.

To be fair (or perhaps just optimistic), Flair also said on the pod that it was in 1986 when he was there -- perhaps he was just getting years confused and lumping in a Brody story with the time he though he was killed?

I love Okada, and am excited to see where he goes as he matures and develops. Red Ink does nothing for me but he's got a diverse offense, and as already noted, is an incredibly willing and able seller. How can one criticize his finisher for being cooperative but not find the same flaws with much lucha? Perhaps I haven't seen enough but a lot of the matwork and finishes there aren't possible to pull off on even a dazed opponent. I also like most of the pimped lucha I see and love some of the high end stuff, but if cooperation is a flaw then lucha needs to be found pretty guilty as well.

That answers the question of what I'll listen to when I go for a 14 mile run tomorrow.

Its also "cool" for everyone other than kids to hate Cena now so most seem happy to go with the flow. It doesn't phase him, makes for some interesting moments and keeps the crowd involved. Win/win.

Awesome, bookmarked and ready to peruse along with a pre-dinner drink. Love vacation!

I love how you deadpan all of this. Just cracking me up.

Any quick links to some of them? Eager to delve into them, but not quite so eager to distinguish the good from the poor.