WingedEagle

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.

I think the belief is that Dave's influence is so massive among hardcore wrestling fans that his star ratings will either turn them on or turn them off to watching or caring about lucha libre, and I don't disagree. And if you are like me, when you see something great and appreciate it, you want others to see it and appreciate it, because at your core, you like seeing other people experience joy and happiness, especially when it's for the same reason you experienced joy and happiness. And when you see something awesome that no one has talked about, after you get past the initial reaction of, "Wow, it's awesome that we discovered this", there is a little disappointment that the performers were not celebrated for the greatness of the match when it actually happened, a process that Dave has more or less controlled for nearly 40 years. But anyway, it's not so much about one guy having a divergent opinion as much as it is about the weight that opinion carries. When people like the things we like, it's a nice reminder that we aren't alone in this world, it gives us a sense of community and it fulfills the human need to connect with other human beings, using professional wrestling as a medium to do so. I think that's generally true of any hobby with a social component. Totally understand that, but using a single tweet as a launchpad seems a bit of a stretch, especially when CMLL's in-ring product has received more praise than just about anything other than NJPW from Dave in recent months, but on Twitter as well as in the Observer. Shouldn't these hardcore fans be interested in more than just the 5 star / best picture / GOAT candidates? I would think/hope fans at that level are looking a bit deeper, but perhaps my expectations are out of whack.

For the win!

Why is there an issue with one person's subjective match ratings? They're right for him at the time he watches them. For some they'll be too high, others too low, and still more people may agree with them. Not sure why Grimmas is ascribing any type of objective bias to to this. Its not as though there's anything dishonest about opinions.

Thanks, that certainly makes sense.

Saw this as well and it was really quite the downer as Stardom had quickly become one of my favorite promotions. What's the connection / speculation with Mayu and SEAdLINNNG? Hadn't heard that but am also not familiar enough with the joshi scene to make heads or tails of these things. Any thoughts on who they push after the exodus or on the possibility of working more with other groups? They've done such a great job of putting together diverse cards with the strong main events featuring talent at the top while also developing and moving up the Jungle Kyona/Konami types and introducing the literal kids to the card. AZM is what, 14? 15? In a month's time she's gone from looking like someone who won a contest to hang with wrestlers on spring break to credibly working as the rookie who's learning the ropes but actually belongs in the ring. It makes such a huge difference and hasn't compromised the six man tags she's been a part of. Add to all of that the efforts they put into making Stardom World and the shows accessible for Western audiences and I really hope they find a way to eventually thrive after this big blow.

Its always interesting how blame is placed in these situations. This all happens so quickly and with such little time to react, along with the fact that most of the roster is now trained not to react but to follow a script. Total wild card what'll happen when someone does miss a line in those situations.

This was simultaneously terrific and frustrating. The pieces of a great match were very much here to be tied together but I don't think they quite got there. Hase's arm was so focused, so persistent and at times so light. It didn't always look that vicious, but they stuck with it so rigidly and for so long that you can't help but be drawn into the psychology. It didn't look or feel at all like your peak AJPW-style big match. The comeback built really well with a lot of drama behind Misawa's efforts to remain the man and Hase's cuttoffs. At the same time, I don't think Misawa sold the arm nearly enough to put over all of the work that led up to that stretch run. You could've built to this particular comeback & the finish in a number of ways. I just think they set the table for something very different. Tie those two pieces together and you've got something very special. Still very good because this is freaking Mitsuharu Misawa and Hiroshi Hase. But it could've been so much more. ***1/2

I absolutely love Takayama. His offense looks so explosive and aggressive, just sheer brutality. While not fast, he has a sneaky suddenness to his game that adds another unique wrinkle. This match was about as great as can be given roughly 10 minutes to work with. You had Tak work as this destructive force who Akiyama tries to pick apart through limb work when not getting toyed with. They even build a really great near fall, all the more impressive by having so little time to get there. The finish worked for this particular match and the direction they were going, but I"m a finish guy and this finish will almost always hold a match back a bit for me. Still one of the most fun watches of the month. ***3/4

That was the best Orton match I've seen in at least a couple years.