WingedEagle

Got it. Watch it all so that you can appreciate it all. And if you don't appreciate it all, dumb American. Or something along those lines. I'm all for knocking most Americans these days -- we deserve it! (I know, I know, PWO) but failure to appreciate a particular style of wrestling or following a rigid, gatekeeping approach to evaluating said style seems awfully rich. Nonetheless, duly noted.

Can you remind me where I or anyone here recently said British or any wrestling was inherently "wrong?" Unless my memory is fading I asked (in another thread, no less) for some help approaching French Catch other than consuming the entire available library. Unclear how that sort of inquiry would be taken as an attack or praise of the content itself but you're certainly free to make that interpretation.

Those not the only two approaches to British wrestling, other European territories, or any wrestling. Nor are those the only two approaches to any consumable culture, for that matter. But I am sorry if you're unable to recognize any other ways to tackle such material.

Thanks, will definitely keep an eye out.

Big fan of Llano Pellacani thus far. Edourd Carpentier usually hits for me. Most of what I've seen of him as Eddy Wiecz has been very good. Gilbert Cesca vs. Billy Catanzaro from 5/2/1957 was really great. My biggest issue that a lot of matches feel unnecessarily long with the work slowing down to ridiculous levels with an eye towards going long rather than accentuating what the workers are actually capable of and in fact to the detriment of their capabilities. Some folks seem to appreciate a lot of the micro details and stylistic contrasts that are found in those matches but too often those longer outings aren't exactly delivering a solid ROI. More Pellacani. More Cheri Bibi. More work with purpose rather than running the ball to kill the clock.

That's not what I've found from starting in the 1950s. At least not if it isn't the only thing I plan on watching in the months ahead. Hopefully can find a basis for some picking & choosing.

Nothing's perfect. But I think there's value in having a starting point or approach other than "do everything." Its always easy to add to and expand from a limited starting point, or go back and fillin gaps from there.

We live in an amazing place (I know you're not here but you've got your own issues and can hopefully raise/break a glass or bottle in "honor" of our shitshow). Too soon to ask for another pandemic? But at least Mania is coming up!

Has anyone compiled a list of the 10? 25? 50? French Catch matches to watch? Apologies if its already found elsewhere in this thread.

Very curious to see how today's result and outing juice his stock next year. I'm not sure what I think of his career relative to others, but he's someone who shouldn't be dismissed as a real candidate.

I'm not sure Kamitani's ceiling as a heel is quite that high, but I am completely sold on her in this role. She's hitting every beat from character to presentation to work in the ring and I look forward to seeing where things go before she inevitably turns back babyface for hopefully another big run.

Someone, I hope, gives us a reason to evaluate him in 5-10 years. But even penciling him at this point seems premature.

Meltzer's update today noted that Alexa Bliss's deal was closed on Saturday by her agent, Dean Muhtadi. Is Mojo Rawley in the Wyatt Family? Does he sit in a rocking chair when exchanging numbers with Nick Khan? What is even happening here?

The finish to the first fall sounded like a covid show before they surrounded the ring with screens. I know that half the building is waiting on line for food or bathrooms, but still.

This. All of this. Its mind boggling to think about how much time and energy are invested in COPE!~!, Jeff Jarrett, Christian, Jericho (at this stage) and other similar imports. Combine with that start and stop focus on acts like Hook (who's yet to prove he deserves any greater role, while also very much a chicken & egg situation of how the lack of consistent work has contributed to his stagnation). I'll even add Danielson & Sting to that crew given how their writeoffs were utilized. Near perfect moments and build, but how did they help the company the day after? Capping Okada as a comedy heel? What are we even doing here? There are undoubtedly complications, wrinkles and backstage conflicts that make this harder than we make it look on paper, but its not *that* hard. Build and push relatively fresh acts. Let them crush it in the ring. Use the old folks to build and supplement the card. Get a babyface or 2 (Hi, Will Ospreay) over as the face of the company.

Was my drink at dinner that strong or was Ripley/Jax really freaking terrific? A great, power sprint that felt like the blueprint for a BJW women's division. Did they watch Sekimoto/Cobb yesterday?

I thought this was an unmemorable, good match when I watched the Texas set. *** 1/2 in my book. Seeing Meltzer call this one of the 5 best matches he'd seen live up to that point in the '84 Observer makes me want to revisit it even if I can't see any way it registers on that level.

Does the Pillman family have evidence that Michaels killed Brian? Is there any other reason Lexis King is employed and used like this?

I guess I'm not the only one on that island as I also thought the match was great. Matches that long can be a major hit or miss but this one definitely hit. They did a great job with Umino getting more frustrated and growing in his aggression and almost embracing working as the heel. I'm not sure where he goes from here and wouldn't necessarily bet on him becoming a bigger deal than Tsuji or Oiwa despite the company seemingly looking to make that happen, but this felt like a very necessary and great step towards whatever his end game is.

He undoubtedly thinks the check cleared. As if Hogan is in the top dozen? 20? reasons to raise an eye at this company.

I was watching on MAX and actually flipped over to cable to doublecheck it because I was sure it had to be some kind of a streaming flub. It was certainly a choice.

I know he's fresh in AEW and has generally overdelivered in the ring, but Copeland *looks* old as hell at this point. I don't see how headlining with him for any length of time does the company much good. Would much rather see him killing himself against younger talent or working some real nostalgia and tagging with Christian. This ain't it.

It seemed like early chatter suggested Tam/Kamitani was underwhelming so I'm glad to see the match and Kamitani get their due praise. She's elevated herself as a performer and character while adjusting her look and already excellent work to perfectly suit the top heel role. Hopefully this isn't a transitional reign and she can get some reps on top before a run on top as a babyface. Between that and SLK's elevation it feels like they're serious about establishing some new and deserving faces at the top of the card. Hopefully AZM joins them soon enough as we're somehow approaching nearly a decade of her as an underrated and excellent worker. Maika/Natsuko was certainly bloody and a fun break from the company's typical style, although I wasn't the biggest fan as it was plagued by the same killing time between spots that such matches usually are. But kudos to Maika for bleeding so much for the cause. I was very surprised to see Tora get the win. I agree to some extent about Marigold's undercards. Early card action is often very skippable but given that a lot of the named filling the midcard were true unkowns to me at the start some of them have shown a lot of promise, particularly the crew that's been working around the tag titles (outside of Mirai).

Probably Okada's best singles match in AEW thus far. That's not a knock on the match or much of a stretch. I expected Ospreay to win but it makes sense with the post-match. Hopefully Okada is similarly motivated for big outings going forward.

I wish it hit that way for me but I thought it was a step down from their first match.