WingedEagle

1) Okada vs. Naito 1/5 2) Okada vs. Ibushi 1/4 3) Villano III Jr. vs. Aereo 3/1 Dragon Gate -- no MOTYCs in my eyes, but good and sometimes great wrestling on every meaningful show, along with the best booking in the world this year make this an easy pick. First time in a decade I won't vote NJPW, but Dragon Gate did a fantastic job setting the table for the next 5-10 years of the company between the rookies and their booking along with reintroducing Shun Skywalker at the top of the card. The Bayley & Sasha Banks team/split/feud. They weren't just the only entertaining part of WWE TV for much of the year, they were actually great in all facets from promos to angles to matches on TV and PPV. A shame it was rushed into a split this fall but that doesn't knock what they did all year. AEW Dynamite If we're talking "Most Outstanding" the top of my list would include Go Shiozaki, Kazuchika Okada, Kota Ibushi, Shingo Takagi and Minoru Suzki in some order. Wrestle Kingdom night 1

Yeah, spent probably doesn't begin to describe how she's felt and will feel for quite a while . And that's with a younger child that "requires" more handholding and eyes than Jr. Hopefully they all find some normal in the new year.

That was an incredible TV show and I hope I never see anything like it again. Just an amazing, thoughtful tribute to a man and consideration of his family.

Thanks, will definitely look into some of those recs!

Happy and healthy to all. Enjoy the rasslin and stay healthy!

Let's say I haven't read a comic in 25 years and I dug Batman, X-Men and the odd Image/Valiant back then. Any trade paperbacks worth grabbing now?

The Elite putting over the Dark Order in the main event would seem like a fitting tribute this week. Hopefully all storylines in the AEW universe can go on hiatus for a week.

Jesus Christ. All the love to that family, whom by all accounts he absolutely lived for. What a tragedy.

This leaves Meltzer almost to write the obit for this coming week's issue. As much as he's written about him through the years its one I'm certainly looking forward to in full.

I grabbed a Switch a couple years back, but could never get the hang of the controls and ended up giving it to a cousin. Too many years invested in PS3/4/5 muscle memory for this old man to learn new tricks.

Thanks, that makes sense. Not sure there's any value there given I've got all the Observers from that time period.

Has anyone picked up either the '97 or '93 Yearbooks that were recently released? They look interesting but I can't tell if there's any original content or if they're just reprints of every Observer from the particular year.

Thoughts on the WK lineups thus far? Leaving aside the uninspired booking that got us there, night 1 looks pretty solid on paper. Naito/Ibushi and Okada/Ospreay should be great and attract a crowd, while Tanhashi/Khan is intriguing and you can never write off Tanahashi on a big show even in NJPW did just that this year. While Shingo/Cobb looks like a fun match, I don't see the hook to attract a crowd on night 2 unless the logic is enough fans can't get into night 1 and will go on 1/5 as a backup option. A main event of presumably Ibushi/White with few fireworks behind it hardly seems like a major show.

I never saw much from Pac on 205 Live or the main roster, but he's been terrific in the Dragon Gate/Indy run that followed as well as in AEW. He also works and carries himself bigger than his frame which isn't something many can do.

I'm almost tempted to watch some of this dreck but that would defeat the purpose of having it on DVR and being able to plow through the entire show in under an hour. Its hardly breaking news, but it remains striking just far the work of AJ Styles and Shuji Ishikawa have fallen since being two of the best in the world just 3-4 years ago. Styles seemingly has a few more rabbits left to pull from his hat than Shuji, but both are very much at the stage of their careers where they're signing for the veteran minimum to chase a ring rather than pieces you build around.

This is a fact and we are all worse off because it didn't happen years ago.

Deebo is amazing, but the childhood memory of Zeus standing on the steps above Hogan outside the cage is one that's permanently etched on my mind. He had such an aura to this 9 year old.

Thanks! Will def check these out.

Ha of course I am not on Instagram so have no clue what I'm missing there. Always more interested in things from Japan since its harder to come by/more expensive, but didn't have anything particular in mind.

Any interesting Black Friday deals out there in the wrestling world?

THEY FUCKING DID IT! BRING ON PAC AND BIG TO CLOSE IT OUT!

I don't get how you even consider doing it when its that obviously fake. This is so weird. And I'm usually a sucker for this kind of thing.

Are they piping in those chants?