WingedEagle

1) Yes. 2) Perhaps, but hardly unrealistic. I'd prefer they even veered from clean finishes (G1 Bullet Club nonsense aside) and had Jay White cost Okada the match to (a) preserve White's shot at the case, which Tana already addressed, and (b) set up Okada/White for WK. But that's a lot less likely.

From your lips to Vince's ears. Their two matches in '16 were absolutely incredible. But I'm not getting my hopes up.

It would seem natural to build Sane/Shirai as a big title match, perhaps for next year's Mania Takeover.

Thanks. Doesn't exactly sound like something I need to go out of my way for.

Why does it feel like a lock that Okada is winning the case?

Hoping he gets a proper long-form obit in the Observer this week.

You kids updating things need to link back to the original post!

What's the projected lineup? I was thinking about going given some of the buzz Impact has gotten in recent months, but will have to weigh that against the MLW taping a week or so before as well the Evolution PPV. Can't drag the wife to everything and getting home at 1AM on a Sunday night isn't exactly appealing, but it is a chance to see Io Shirai in person.

What do people think about these kinds of conclusions? This isn't at all a knock at Jimmy -- in fact, its completely logical and the type of attention to detail that adds a lot to a match for me. But if the commentary doesn't point it out and the wrestlers don't do anything in particular to highlight such a point, how much credit do we give for it? What if someone's watching on mute, or watching a match in Japan without English commentary? How far are people willing to arrive at these conclusions without any big or small pushes in such a direction?

Dream's tights. Amazing.

Cut a day at the beach a bit short to watch this and not at all disappointed. The opening tag took its time building but featured some terrific spots, both new and ones that played off of their previous encounters. as well as a hot finish and post-match angle to boot. Really strong opener that I had at ****1/4. Apparently I'm in in the minority here, but have no problem with Ciampa/Gargano as a singles main event. Would prefer it without the LMS stip, but it never felt like Black fit into this feud and I think they could very well benefit from a singles match again.

Would love to hear him compare booking for week to week houses/TV versus for big shows.

If it were still Raw Is War, 2018 Raw would absolutely be Vietnam. incredible resources and an utter disaster.

The Usos & Cesaro/Sheamus just had quite the little tag team match. Really fun TV outing.

This was a really fun match that I thought was building towards one of the better G1 outings thus far before ending rather suddenly. It seemed like it could've used more limb work from Sabre and another fired up or two from Ishii, but they may very well have been saving that for the Ibushi match. ***3/4

This is basically my approach to ratings as well. Off the top of my head I've got around 6-8 5 star matches this decade. Some may think that's too picky, but are all-time great matches actually happening on a monthly or better basis?

Thanks, will keep that in mind and look into options.

Has anyone been to the spot they tape at in NY? Is it easy to park there? I'd like to go in October depending on what match they announce for LA Park, but would be coming from work and thus the need for parking. Quite the busy stretch locally between that show, Bound For Glory and Evolution.

If I rated four matches on this show at 3 stars or better, including the main event, it'd have been a thumbs up in my book as well (perhaps in the middle, depending upon the booking?). But I certainly didn't see it that way and had only 2 matches at that level. Perhaps I'm too demanding, or perhaps Dave is more generous in certain regards. It seems as though ratings in the Observer in recent years have become more tied to pace and frequency of highspots. For up/down purposes, my sense is fans still give more credence to booking at PPVs than TV or individual matches, even in the Network era.

This was a solid match that unfortunately didn't approach the standard they set in the 2016 G1 Finals. I thought Omega as champion controlled way too much of a match that called for Goto to dominate in an attempt to establish himself as a viable threat. Brawling in the bleachers was solid but not quite credible enough to raise this above fun. Credit to them for getting Korakeun to buy into a near fall or 2 for Goto down the stretch. As much as I enjoyed this, their history left me thinking more about what was left on the table than what was delivered. ***1/2

Sounds like a win.

All of this looks great and I'm pretty pumped to dive in and look at things more in depth. One thought that's probably already crossed your mind -- with all of these additional sub folders and threads that people will be going back & forth between, it'd be great to get page loads closer to prior speeds to allow for easier navigation.

I like the idea of showing multiple new (or do you mean recently updated threads) on the right hand side of the page.

That Roman/Balor/McIntyre triple threat may have been better than anything at Extreme Rules. Not exactly a high bar to clear, but I liked Roman/Lashley and AJ/Rusev, so no complaints about topping that on TV.