WingedEagle

Love seeing you go through these classics again, Sleeze. 80s AJPW was so freaking incredible so any reminders and fresh takes are always fun.

Loved the 8 man opener. I've heard good things about Ruby Riot / Heidi Lovelace but she looked a little rough in a couple spots. Not enough to bring the match down at all, but Nikki Cross is dying for a breakout performance and they had a few opportunities to shine here that didn't seem to come through. That aside, this was an incredibly fun, balls to the wall opener with a great pace and quick flow between segments that gave basically everyone an opportunity to look impressive. Really couldn't ask for more out of this. ***3/4 Black/Almas was okay. Not bad, certainly nothing special. At points they seemed to want to showcase the new guy as a big deal, as he had some impressive spots, but these looked like two guys going through motions and following a script without ever jumping off the page. Almas is better as a heel but he's still never looked as impressive as he did as Sombra. That may never happen given certain limitations here. Thought they could've done a better job building to a finish rather as it seemed like they ran through a collection of spots and randomly picked one to wrap it up with. They were often impressive spots, but not much more. **3/4 Tag title threeway was terrific. Absolutely loved how DIY & Revival worked together against AOP throughout the match and all of the creative spots they wove into that story throughout the match. Surprised DIY went out first as I expected Revival to disappear en route to a promotion, but we'll see how that plays out. It wasn't quite as great after the elimination, but this was so great . Hopefully they can find another team to weave into this mix. ****1/4 Asuka vs. Ember Moon -- still not seeing Asuka as any kind of elite talent, but there was a lot of good here between the transitions and some really big offense from both. Best part was undoubtedly the (presumably?) heel turn for Asuka at the finish. She's really played the part of a tweener at best outside of playing to the crowd during her entrance, but stamping here as a heel has potential. Not sure what babyfaces they'd build for her after the Moon rematch, but perhaps that's what the women's tourney is for. ***1/2 Nak vs. Roode was way too long. Great entrances. This was very much "there" with little reason to care almost the entire way. They had a large number of minutes to fill and weren't checking out until the whistle, but weren't exactly going hard on both ends. The crowd was surprisingly with it much of the way despite this and they put together a hot finish with a couple decent near falls that ensured it didn't quite end on a sour note, but outside of Roode's entrance this is a title scene that needs fresh figures. **3/4

I thought Bischoff, DDP, Nattie and Beth Phoenix were terrific, while RNR was great fun. All of them are worth going out of your way to see. Rude's son was a fun quick hit, and the only folks who wouldn't find Eric Legrand inspiring are those without a heart. Cornette was useless and his efforts to get himself over with nonstop jokes was completely out of place and fell flat at every turn. Cena/Angle was fine but nothing special.

Just to add another perspective -- Conrad undoubtedly inquires about pay and money, and perhaps brings it up in some regard every week, but its hardly something he's harping on for the entire show. The point is raised, there's a back & forth and then its on with the topic.

I'm absolutely stoked for the show. Year after year I love the presentation aspects of the stadium, the entrances and how the show is produced. I think the card has a ton of potential to deliver at almost every turn. The main matches: The Raw women's title match is unfortunately watered down but if given enough time to the elimination aspect gives us better than decent odds of a very good match. The women's 3 way was the best match on last year's show and I don't see why that iteration and the following 1 on 1 can't come together as part of a very good match if given enough time. More on that in a bit. Triple H / Rollins feels about as cold as a marquee big match at Mania can. I haven't found any part of the build compelling -- not the angles, promos, nothing. I'm not looking forward to it at all. That being said, expectations are so low I won't be shocked if this massively overdelivers. If its a well paced brawl, perhaps with focused limb works, smart gimmicks and perhaps even a semi-annual blood exception I could see it being a real sleeper. The key is not to go too long. More on that in a bit. Jericho/Owens -- feel very similar here as I do about the above match. I didn't enjoy their act at all through the fall, but the angle splitting them was incredibly well done and this should be pretty heated. Hopefully its laid out in a fashion that makes sense given the feud rather than as a straight title match. This is one that can probably go a little longer without overstaying its welcome. Orton/Wyatt is another match where the build has left me cold, but if they stay away from Performance Center 101 chinlocks and basically work a Mania sprint title match -- and this is the most important aspect to me -- a strong, decisive clean finish? It could very well deliver beyond what TV has promised us. More on that in a bit. Cena/Nikki vs. Miz/Maryse -- everyone seems to be looking forward to this. At worst the women will get more time and play a bigger role than we'd like, and at best Cena & Miz will be left alone to deliver a strong singles match before John gets locked down. Should be electric. AJ/Shane is an unfortunate use of Styles, but I suppose its somewhat neat to see they value him enough to pull out a McMahon to ensure he has a big match. AJ is not Taker. If anyone can use gimmicks, bumping and storytelling to squeeze a solid or even good match of Shane, its AJ Styles. Let's just hope it doesn't go 30 like last year. Brock/Goldberg isn't going 120 seconds. Not expecting anything approaching Brock/Roman here, but don't see why they can't aspire to do an 8-10 minute version of that with high spots and power stunts in the ring & around ringside the entire way. Maybe Goldberg can't handle that kind of physical taxing for that long, but its possible, right? Should be another strong finish. More on this one in a bit. Taker/Roman is a question mark because Taker hasn't delivered at Mania in a few years. But if kept to a reasonable length and they have him take a fantastic beating only to eventually go down to some heel tactics from Roman this could be a pleasant surprise or a legit MOTN contender. Taker's matches with Brock in 2015 were very good and I'm not ruling out the possibility he could do that again. I think its important this is kept under 20 minutes with minimal wasted time. I'm legitimately excited for it. I think there's a TON of potential up and down the card. HOWEVER -- I can't say I'm necessarily optimistic about anything above being delivered in a memorable or outstanding fashion. I expect Trips/Rollins, Taker/Roman and AJ/Shane to go too long. I'm not confident the mixed tag will deliver a great match, even if as a spectacle and prototypical Mania moment its basically a lock. The show is going to go over 6+ hours when you factor in the preshow. Its tough for anything to resonate that well at that point unless you hit your notes pretty much on the mark. So I'm totally prepared to be underwhelmed and wondering why I dented the couch for so long like last year, but on the other hand I'm totally pumped to see just what delivers, because almost everything could. Its a long shot, but until then there's a glimmer of hope.

That seems a bit strong. I personally enjoyed the Balor/Joe series, and thought the match at Takeover Dallas was terrific. Nakamura has been a real disappointment -- primarily because of how he's been used and the apparently resulting effort -- but a disappointment nonetheless. The series with Joe never approached what youd hope for, and the Zayn match feels more like a great moment surrounding the debut before a crowd that was dying for a classic as opposed to actually getting one. The biggest fall has been on the women's side as it was arguably the show's biggest strength for some time. Losing Charlotte, Becky and Sasha at once created a huge void that simply hasn't been filled. Asuka is more than competent, but has also never been established as a firm babyface or heel which prevented her matches with Bayley & Nia Jax from approaching the level we'd seen previously. Jax got moved up far too quickly and they simply haven't brought in anyone who can really push Asuka. I hoped Nikki Cross would get that chance but its not in the cards as of yet, and Ember Moon hasn't made any real impression thus far. Certainly potential to revamp the division with arrivals from Japan & Europe post Mania, but we'll see how strongly any newcomers are featured. On the other hand, the tag division has been outstanding with DIY & Revival putting together a couple legit MOTYs. I've enjoyed just about everything from them and even AOP on TV as they've kept it fresh with squashes and angles involving all 3 teams heading into this weekend, and really never got stale since American Alpha got called up and the focused shifted in this direction.

Reigns should go over after a competitive match. Ideally he hits his big moves cleanly, fails to put Taker away and resorts to heel tactics for the win to cement a turn. Whether that's Shield assistance, a call back to Austin's chair shots at 17 or something similar, I believe that's the most effective outcome here. But apparently the plan is to maintain him as a face in building towards next year. At least as things are penciled in now.

Anyone know the deal with the guy in a Mets jersey who's been seated front row facing the hard cam at seemingly every TV/NXT taping and PPV in recent months?

Not to play the "old fucker" gimmick again, but really, that match was talked about when it happened back in 2000 in the little circles of Japanese indy sleaze fans. Glad to see this stuff being dug up, but this is not something that flew under the radar back then. I don't doubt it. My world then was exclusively domestic TV and the Observer and doubt there's any way it would've popped up on my radar -- limited as it may have been.

New Japan World has made a number of Okada's big matches available for free online -- http://njpwworld.com/pg/t_0000_2015_43/e/sp#googtrans(en)

Always incredible to see something unheralded receive such acclaim like this. Very much looking forward to catching up on all of my chronological viewings and see what happens here.

This is what happens when I catch up on things with no sleep after flying overnight. Roman/Braun was another solid outing from them. Until the chinlock and finish. Didn't mind the latter too much, but it somehow felt even more inorganic than usual for this type of angle, and the chinlock really brought down what was building to a nice TV main event.

Caught up on Raw & Smackdown today. From a pure in ring perspective I thought Raw was a very solid show with Joe/Sami and Bayley/Jax were a pair of solid TV matches that advanced storylines and had a ton of action with almost zero downtime or fluff. I may not love a women's four-way at Mania, but cannot argue with how they put Jax over here. Joe also continues to be booked strongly even without any apparent role at Mania. Meanwhile Smackdown delivered on the angles and storylines with a show that flew by. I wasn't as high on the tag title change as others but it was nonetheless a fun tag around the AJ/Shane and Miz/Cena programs that are the focus of television.

Cosign. Perhaps you'll convince me to check this out, but hope you can make some time for some other wrestling.

Thanks for putting that all together. I'm guessing she earns more as a freelancer than the potential under contract to Stardom or elsewhere. She really does seem like the total package.

Did I miss the part where the PWO community "blamed" Paige for this? I saw someone jump in to defend her from the horrible menfolk here, but didn't realize she was being castigated at all, much less worse, than the other figures in this story.

On vacation this week so won't be able to get there until next weekend. This post is my reminder to watch ASAP. That anniversary show tag sounded incredible on paper and I'm even more excited to hear it delivered. Donsen, what's the word on Matusmoto? She seems a solid character, good size and more than decent in the ring. Put it all together and there seems promise for a headliner. Something I'm missing here?

If you're aspiring to succeed in a business where success comes with attention, fame or whatever other synonym you like, its worth considering your lot in life may change down the road. Not sure it brings any bad PR to WWE. If you're an individual involved its also irrelevant as all that matters is how your employer or other sources of incomes view such an item. That's the only reality that's relevant. Perhaps its not fair or appropriate. But its far from unprecedented.

I'm with you -- the same standard applies to all parties involved. As far as I'm concerned this is worst for Woods solely because he's the only one in a prominent position with the company at present and thus has the most to lose.

Firm believer in a strong right to privacy, but I'm also not a fan of defending the dumb. Public figures derive their income and value from publicity and attention. They should be aware of how this pendulum swings both ways and perhaps take extra care to not creating content they wouldn't want to get out. Not suggesting anyone has a right to release such material illegally, but if a public figure's image takes a hit from something like this its not unreasonable to expect an employer/partner to reevaluate the relationship. We all have to evaluate and manage our conduct and the risks they pose to our jobs.

Sounds great. Hope you keep posting about them.

Really enjoyed following as you tracked through everything in the MDA. I'm slowly but surely making my way through the decade chronologically but love seeing folks hop around like this and hear new takes to look for when I eventually watch or rewatch. What are you tackling next?

It was a fun afternoon at MSG and Owens getting in a bit of offense while Brock removed his shirt added a nice wrinkle, but from there this was your standard fare Brock squash.

Very similar thoughts to Shoe on this one. Omega's dynamic, explosive bursts of offense combined with an Ishii focused on selling made this a tremendous match. They've also done an incredible job building and teasing the One Winged Angel without him even hitting it. When eventually used to either win the IWGP title and/or for a big kickout this build should make those moments all the more tremendous. Ishii's various and repeated counters throughout the match and his selling told a great story and built to a strong finish. New Japan's big main event match times this year would scare me on paper, but they've hit home runs every single time. ****1/2

Bret-Austin is head & shoulders above the pack for the first 10-15 years. After that Rock-Austin 17 (although 15 and 19 are both very underrated), the Michaels-Taker series, Bryan-HHH and Reigns-Lesnar are the standouts in my book.