WingedEagle

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

What's hockey?

Does anyone have any sense about the economics of a streaming service for a smaller company? Is it profitable, or even close to break even for the likes of BJW, DG, AJPW, Stardom, etc? Three of those are admittedly recent so I'm sure they're far from the point where numbers need to be justified, but I'm very curious if there's enough market share for this many subscription services to succeed.

Does anyone have a link to the Park angle?

Who is this person? Someone who says IWC and thinks everyone is being buried except Roman Reigns? Beats me. I just follow Benjamin Wittes, Walter Shaub, and Natasha Bertrand on twitter, no wrestling people. Wittes is a terrific follow. But yes, PWO. I always try to cull my Twitter follows but haven't done a very good job of it. Definitely need to make some cuts.

From what I saw UFC got less money, which was pretty surprising given expectations in recent months.

This is pretty important and I think deserving of quite a bit of credit. I haven't been a fan of much of the main roster creative over the last 18 months, but he built a model that grew to and could sustain business at this level while never letting creative fall to a point that it imperiled the business as a going concern.

Thanks, perhaps will check it out if some others this week don't seem interesting, but doesn't seem like I need to go out of my way.

Agreed, but its even more disappointing Dave has taken it up as some kind of marketing effort. I'm sure he knows better and that it makes him a tough follow for many, but this is apparently one one road he'll go down for purely quantitative purposes without regard for how he comes off.