WingedEagle

Also, I absolutely loved the finishes to Bryan/Big E and *especially* Bryan/Joe. That latter one was just phenomenal.

Let's discuss the vital issue of the day -- is such a gauntlet one match or multiple matches? I generally feel pretty strongly that its a series of individual, separate matches, but with Bryan and his story dominating an overwhelming portion of the entire presentation I'm open to considering it as one package.

I was surprised to see so many people so high on this match, but that kind of dichotomy is always interesting. While I enjoyed the opening as it quickly felt more urgent and violent than their previous outings, this very quickly started to drag and felt interminable for much of the next 20+ minutes. That last 5+ or so minutes really bailed this out as they were just terrific with big spots, timing and a real uncertainty that was amplified by the LMS stip, but it would've been the best if that finishing stretch came about 10 minutes earlier. ***

Go with WCW up to where you started on the Death of thread. Its far enough back that it'll feel new while also easily accessible.

Perhaps its crazy, but Yano seems vital in the G1. He's an easy opportunity for everyone in his block to essentially get an extra off night working a shorter comedy match without the need to kill themselves. Not every match clicks, but he's usually good for a few fun outings every year and rarely goes long enough to be actively bad.

A very good match where I appreciated how they approached it differently from the first iteration in April. Between their gear and the combination of utterly predictable spots and a few less so, they succeeded in getting over the stipulation and the visceral hatred needed for such a blood feud, even if blood wasn't permissible. I didn't mind the ECW tribute or other staple spots we've seen from similar matches, and thought they did an excellent job working in callbacks to their prior match and angles. Where this really fell off for me was in the last 8-10 minutes (for all I know it was shorter, but felt like an eternity) where they spent too long dragging things out on the stage, setting up the big spot and then a few days loading up the stretcher before finally making it back to the ring. It was all too forced and long, even if they made good use of the exposed boards at the end. This was well short of the first Almas and Ciampa matches before that, but probably in the range of the Almas TV rematch and perhaps higher with a stronger and tighter close. I may have liked the tag match better, but between the long-term investment in this story and heightened stakes its tough to argue for anything else as match of the night. ****

Sounds like a win. I love a detailed, qualitative match review as the best give me something to think about on the match at hand as well as impact what I look for thereafter, but absent some type of rating -- stars, letters, numbers, whatever works for the author -- it can be difficult to differentiate and distinguish. Needless to say this sounds like a great way to address everything.

Really great review. Looking forward to seeing more, especially as you dive into material and eras you haven't looked at in depth here yet. Are you shying away from star ratings?

There was just a local ad for MLW's upcoming NYC show on tonight's Smackdown. Definitely did not expect to see that.

I'm surprised that was never hinted at in an SMW promo or angle. Or was it?

What was the rumor? I don't recall hearing any speculation.

I'd really like to say a lot about the main event and hope to do so in the next couple days, but a few quick takes: - There was almost nothing bad other than the finish to the opener, which seemed to serve no purpose beyond crapping on a couple of rising young stars. - Literally, nothing bad. I expected Goto/Elgin/Taichi to come up short both because it was a triangle match in New Japan and because of Taichi (miracles only happen once and he had his against Naito earlier this year), but they pulled it off and it was a lot of fun. - I'm admittedly a New Japan diehard but often find their undercards run too long. That was not the case here as nothing overstayed its welcome and the entire show moved very quickly. - The legends 6-man tag was a lot of fun. Its mind boggling seeing Hiroshi Tanahashi in a relatively meaningless role on a big show, but I have no doubt he'll deliver in and be a big part of the G1. He will be a big part of the G1, right? Right? Rey looked great here, to no surprise. Hopefully he has a fun spot on the Cow Palace show. - Ospreay/Hiromu was good and probably the 3rd best match on the show, but Hiromo/Ishimori blew it away and a few other BOSJ outings were on par with this. Perhaps I need to check it out again as a lot of folks seemed to rate it much higher, but this was basically a very good ***3/4 match in my book. - I liked Omega/Jericho at the Dome but thought it went way too long and didn't see any of the MOTYC talk it received in some circles. Naito/Jericho blew it away from the start, with much better and more vicious brawling and a tighter match. Call me crazy, but Jericho's gut and general appearance here added a lot to his character and vibe. It felt much grittier and more violent. I'm all for potbellied Jericho coming for a younger generation. This dramatically exceeded expectations. - Okada/Omega IV was an easy 5 stars and 1 of my 2 favorite matches this year, along with Gargano/Almas. No idea how to rank it against their outings from last year or historically, but it was incredible and didn't feel anything like 65-70 minutes. The finishes to each fall were terrific. That third fall in particular was out of this world with a pair of the best selling and expressive performances I've ever seen. I was popping up off the couch for near falls and screaming for the finish. Bravo.

It might be the greatest run of any company in history. I don't think I'd make that claim myself at this point and likely would hesitate to do so until a while we can somehow put a bow on this era (assuming we can really ID when its a wrap), but I think much of why certain matches and workers are being touted is simply a result of the the environment. People can comment, react, evaluate and come to conclusions on matches in real time -- literally while watching the shows live! It contributes to the hyperbole (that's not to knock anyone's takes, I'm just one who prefers to let things cool a bit before coming to a conclusion, even if it turns out to be consensus). Can you imagine if we had All Japan World in the 90s? With Twitter, Facebook, PWO and other means of instant communication? Just look at some of the matches from that era that you can find arguments for as all timers in one corner or another: 1990: Jumbo-Misawa I and II 1991: 4/20 6-man tag 1993: Hansen vs. Kawada, Hansen vs. Kobashi, 12/3/93 1994: 6/3/94 1995: 6/9/95 1996: 12/6/96 1997: Misawa vs. Kobashi That's 10 matches right there. The arguments just weren't happening in real time. I'm at 5 stars on Okada/Omega. In fact, I went 5, 5, 4.75 and 5 on their four matches. Greatest match ever? No idea. But those first 3 ratings were affirmed on rewatch and I couldn't imagine going lower on yesterday's match watching it unspoiled. If someone was so blown away as to call it, that terrific. I'm glad they loved it. When wrestling is that great and blows your mind to the point that you're on your feet watching a finish and screaming along with the TV? It doesn't happen that often but don't we all want that? That should be celebrated even if we don't necessarily agree with everyone's take.

Err on the side of bombarding. Its the least we can do. Also, I went to my profile but don't seem to be able to opt-in to the weekly email. I see the text there but no place to select an option.

Its rare to not only be interested in a new venture, but to actually want to succeed because of those behind it, but that's absolutely the case here. You always speak of wrestling with an insightful joy that somehow comes across as unique despite the ubiquity of voices found online. Hopefully you turn the right levers and it develops into a tremendous success. Looking forward to seeing what's next!

Ha all of a sudden clicked.

There was one six-man tag at an untelevised Omni that was won by the Horsemen and that was the end of it. Michael Hayes got a brief house show run later that year against Flair but Gordy and Buddy were already gone from JCP so it was more of a "Hayes is the contender of the month" deal than "Freebirds vs Horsemen" Thanks. I'm guessing they planned for more than a lone six man tag given there were multiple TV promos dedicated to it, but also not surprise that things with the Birds didn't work out at the time.

I would've sworn there was a Horsemen thread but i couldn't find it, so dropping this question here. Watching footage from June 1987 and the Horsemen cut a number of promos setting up a feud with the Freebirds, including directly pushing a match at the Omni. But I don't see that anything ever came of it. What was the deal here?

Thanks, look like that took care of it. Not sure what changed but we're good now.

Are embedded Youtube videos no longer displaying for anyone else? Seems to have become an issue in the last couple days.

Since the extended downtime a couple days ago I've been unable to mark entire folders read. For example, if I want to mark everything in the publications & podcasts folder read I need to go in and actually click on each thread. It doesn't seem to be an issue on sub-folders through -- i.e. I can go into the MDA and mark a given/month year read.

Tyler Bate regularly uses an airplane spin.

I had the same experience while trying to access the site late afternoon/early evening.

My biggest reservation on the Shirai signing is how strongly they'll feature her given the incredible push Asuka received in recent years. While there's certainly no need for any streak or similarly killer gimmick, if she's given an opportunity to regularly deliver big matches rather than sparing TV opportunities I think she'll quickly prove herself among the best talents in the entire company. Fingers crossed.

Absolutely, wrestling should not ever be any point of contention in your personal relationships. My significant other isn't a fan and I don't try to change that, I respect that others I have in my life aren't gonna dig wrestling. Amen to that. I wish some of my friends were into it, but what can you do. I'm just happy the wife is cool with me watching as much as I do -- some spouses would complain about someone spending a fraction of the time watching that I do, so its a damn good thing we're comfortable doing our own thing at times