WingedEagle

Only when it seems like they cut to commercial on USA. Comes right back in a second or 2.

Thanks for the background. Reading that with an one eye also on what may not be stated, it sounds like Sakaguchi compelled Muto to stay via some promises/threats rather than persuading SWS to stay away from him.

Why would he listen to Sakaguchi if he was going forward with his plans anyways?

I'd imagine at a certain point most top domestic talent priced themselves out of the Japanese market with the way things were going here in the late 90s/early aughts.

Thanks as always! Love these histories and details. Can you shed any more light on the Sakaguchi call highlighted above? Who'd he call? Why did he have that kind of influence at that stage but not subsequently? This seems like a very curious and important point.

Andrade doesn't have the marquee value of Moxley or top stars from AEW, but he can certainly go and would add a fresh face to the mix, if he's an option.

Thanks, that doesn't sound too terrible. Tonight I got the email that my network subscription is done as of tomorrow, so I'll probably try the deal they're offering for the ad-supported Peacock and see how that goes.

For those that have signed up for the ad-supported Peacock, how prevalent are the ads?

This thread is a treasure. Fascinating to hear about Fujinami AJPW shows at the time.

Late to the party here but I thought Roman/Bryan was the best main roster bout since Bryan/Kofi. Just tremendous pacing, selling and storytelling with an awesome babyface/heel dynamic. I can get why some folks found it overbooked but I thought it was very well laid out with Edge essentially an afterthought until the very end rather than casting a shadow over the entire match.

If you take a paycheck from Fox to produce, deliver or facilitate the content they put out it should disqualify you from complaining about a damn thing that happens to you there. But this is PWO so we'll leave it there.

Its not a defense of Tyrus, but I'm not sure anyone who cashes checks from that company has much standing to make claims against anyone for any kind of inappropriate behavior. Glass houses and whatnot.

Why would WWE release him?

Thirded. Months and months of incredible discussions and podcasts here that are still great references.

Dream Cinderella was indeed a great show. I've seen folks call it a potential show of the year, and while I can't support that kind of talk, it was a really fun show with only the tag title match dragging at all. AZM/Natsupoi was a hot, brisk opener and if AZM ends up anything less than one of the best in the world in a few year I'll be disappointed. Momo/Nanae was great while it lasted but as noted above an unfortunate result, although a necessary one given the finish to Mayu/Yoshiko. That was my second favorite match of the night behind the main event, and that's coming from someone who thinks both Giulia and Tam were overrated last year. The title match between Hayashishita and Kamitani was also great and just shy of the **** level. Would love another outing from them. Well worth checking out.

Today's Ibushi-Naito was a simpler and much better version of their WK match. Perhaps being reigned in due to the stage benefited them but I enjoyed this immensely more than the big show.

Anything worth checking out from this week's run at Korakuen?

This thread is the best thing to happen here in some time. I've caught bits and pieces of this on Twitter but its tough to stay on top of it there. Great to have everything organized so cohesively here.

For all the WK hype (and I LOVED Shingo/Cobb), Tanahashi vs. Shingo is my runaway MOTY and a legit ***** classic. I came into it with incredibly high expectations and they somehow smashed those.

This. At some point that firm may decide the odds of any recovery are slim to none and cut bait. But until then its likely not costing the gentleman in question a dime.

Likely neither and somewhere in between. It really depends on how counsel on the other side is compensated and how long they're willing to prolong such a frivolous suit as their chances for compensation decrease. Its not as though the plaintiff here (there's no reason to use his name) has much of a case and I can't imagine he's paying by the hour.

Is there anything worth watching on Raw this week?

The yearbooks are not kind to ECW. Easily the promotion that fares the worst looking back on it years later even if some angles and plenty of promos are still solid or at worst recognizable for their influence at the time. But the passage of time is harsher on Sabu than anyone. Whether he benefitted from Paul E.'s smoke and mirrors, a reputation from working "extreme" matches that made tape trading circles at the time or a lack of overexposure, almost nothing of his is good in modern eyes. It consistently appears as though he's coming up on the fly with spots to try fly with zero connective tissue between them, any story surrounding the match or anything else going on in the promotion for that matter. Leave the memories alone.

That's the one. I was intimidated by the runtime when I saw it and barely felt like half that much by the end.

What do I want to check out beyond the Aereo match?