Superstar Sleeze

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi vs Yuji Nagata - NJPW 4/3/11 Tanahashi is a modern day Ric Flair, charismatic, perfect blend of workrate and showmanship, tons of entertaining stock, great plug 'n' play formula, and polarizing. Tanahashi has made a career out of Keiji Mutoh's 2001 renaissance strategy of working the leg, but love how in each match there is a different reason he has to do it and where it leads. I liked the dynamic at the beginning as Tanahashi is the cocky prick champion but he is over like rover so he is playing to the crowd and the crowd is cheering him hard & he is lapping it up. He scores a takedown and finishes with a stomp. He is just so cocky. Nagata is a great no-nonsense ass-kicker and he complements Tanahashi's ostentatious style. I really liked Nagata slapping Tanahashi as he went in for a collar-elbow tieup. Nagata just started lighting Tanahashi up. Nagata had great kicks. This felt very heel vs heel. Tanahashi was the cocky heel, but when he tried to fire up against Nagata in the corner I thought that was a babyface moment only for Nagata to quell the rally by beating the piss out of him. It made me feel sympathy for Tanahashi who came up short in the strike exchange. Nagata beat Tanahashi so bad with strikes that Tanahashi had to powder. Now anybody who has ever seen a Tanahashi match knows what is bound to happen. Tanahashi gets a hold of the leg and snaps it across the top rope. Here it was necessary because he was getting his ass kicked and he needed to stop the bleeding. I love Tanahashi's offense. Follows up with somersault senton from the apron and then goes to work on the leg. The figure-4 spot had good drama and selling. Nagata gets a kneelift, but it is the bad knee! Nagata unleashes some vicious kicks to Tanahashi's left arm with pinpoint accuracy. The double limb pyschology in this was really great. They both had plenty of good cutoffs on each other by attacking the other's damaged limb. This led to great drama and plenty of great, dramatic submissions (Texas Cloverleaf, Cross-Armbreaker->Fujiwara Armbar). The finish stretch was ultra hot with plenty of big bombs. I loved Nagata hitting a tremendous kick to Tanahashi's ribs when he came off the top for his first High Fly Flow attempt. Nagata unleashed quite the onslaught of big bombs. Plenty of big nearfalls (that backdrop driver was insane and the perfect last big bomb to kick out of. Anymore and it would have been too incredulous). What I liked is that they still peppered in Tanahashi hope spots so it let you know he still had life and it didnt feel like he was being ragdolled. Tanahashi shifts his weight on a super backdrop driver. Dragon Suplex No Human Capture Suplex and then classic Two High Fly Flows for the win. It is routine Tanahashi, but I love routine Tanahashi because it is steeped in logic and consequence. Tanahashi is cocky at the outset but bites off more than he can chew with the ass-kicking Nagata. Goes to his old stand by of attacking the leg. Nagata responds by attacking arm. Both do great here. The finish stretch feels like a big deal. It feels like everything in this match from beginning to end has consequence. I thought there could be more struggle in this match and better selling, but it escalated really well. I thought the finish was slightly overwrought, I think one big Nagata nearfall and one dramatic armbar was enough, but they went for way more. Very enjoyable and breezy because of how well-connected everything is and it is always great to watch a Tanahashi match unfold. ****1/4

I am almost 100% sure I was at this show live. Was this a show taped at Mania. I was second row. La Parka dived straight out of the corner through the ropes right at me onto Pentagon Jr. It was so cool. I marked out so hard!

Wicked cool! Thanks for sharing! I plan on going to all 50 states in my life and definitely will make sure to take a selfie with Da Crusher in Milwaukee! Have a real soft spot for him after all the AWA I watched!

Amen brutha! When I read that Michael Elgin said something to effect of "Impact has not had a 5 star match in years and I'm going to change that." I was so annoyed. It is the exact opposite way to think. I don't care about Elgin or Impact but this line of logic is very alienating to me.

Does anyone have a link to this? This sounds wicked fucking bizarre. How bad can a fan really boo an act? There is some really awful shit men can say to women and if it was that bad then kick him out. There is nothing he could have said to warrant him being dragged to the back and be intimidated. If he got physical with one of the women, all bets are off, but if it is just words then it sounds like the wrestlers have some really thin skin.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion John Cena vs Brock Lesnar - Summerslam 2014 Brock Lesnar gave a heel performance for the ages in the biggest match of the year. It was the little touches like stepping on Cena's hand, the trash talk, and the desire to make Cena give up. He could have pinned him at pretty much any moment after about two minutes into the match, but he wanted to dominate and humiliate Cena. He wanted to force Cena to tell the referee he could not continue because Brock Lesnar beat him so senseless. Like any good villain, Lesnar's hubris almost cost him on two different occasions. The elbows into the FU was electric and the STFU brought people to their feet. Jerry Lawler was the perfect voice for all the children that did not want to believe their hero was going to be vanquished at the hands of the meanest schoolyard bully there ever was. Good conquers evil, right? Not when evil is Brock Fucking Lesnar. When he did the Zombie Sit-Up complete with a crazed look and maniacal laugh, it was the perfect horror movie image that the monster was not going to stay down. Sufficiently rattle though by STFU, Brock quit playing with his food and hit the F-5 to win the match in a similar vein to the Seahawks' complete annihilation of the Broncos in the 2014 Super Bowl. I am a Brock mark. As soon as he gets into the ring, I hang on every single explosive and impactful move. Immediately every match becomes bigger when Lesnar is involved and becomes a fight for survival. So many matches from this decade are struggle between being a choreographed exhibition against a predetermined sporting contest. When Lesnar walks down the aisle, all that is effaced from my mind. I know I am going to watch a fight. The opening 30 seconds of this match maybe my favorite opening 30 seconds from any match (with only Tenryu vs Mutoh from 2001 coming close). The amount of struggle in that opening moment. Cena meeting the Beast head on and trying to fight fire with fire. For Lesnar to snap off an F-5 so early was just an incredible climax. The only thing ballsier than the match they gave us would have been to end the match right there. Part of me thinks they should have. The beatdown was a merciless onslaught of unmitigated violence. Cena's glassy-eyed and foggy selling was so spot on. I talked about Cena's selflessness in the Cesaro match, but on no stage was it more apparent. How many top babyfaces would have been so secure to allow them to essentially be squashed by the top heel on the second biggest PPV of the year? None come to mind. The only two matches that come close to how this one was booked were Vader vs Sting from Great American Bash '92 and Brock Lesnar versus The Rock at Summerslam '02. The difference was the Sting match was a little more competitive and Vader is always willing to bump for his opponent and in the Rock match he was leaving WWE for months. Cena got two flurries of offense and would be expected to show up within coming weeks and continue to compete. The match is carried by strong heel and babyface performances and unique circumstances, but because of its lopsided nature it is not something I consider a slam dunk Match of the Year Contender. It feels like a great first act in a play that hooks you immediately. I believe wrestling matches should be viewed in context, but ultimately need to be able to stand alone. i do not think this match can standalone and it is too tethered to its aftermath. That aftermath is very disappointing. Just when everyone says they have seen everything ever in wrestling WWE pulls off something that I am struggling to find a comparison point to. I would say this is something never been done before. Yet, they treat it like just another John Cena loss where he comes back with no injuries, dominates the entire Wyatt Family and is hungry as ever. He essentially no sold the match. Just like the spots in a match, which should have consequence on the next spot in a match, the match itself should have consequences in the storyline. If the WWE does not respect their own booking, then how can I? For that reason, it is why I am knocking this match down a peg, because its influence was not as strong as it should have been. ****1/2

Did the AOC tweet get traction here? That seemed like a huge deal. I was flabbergasted she tweeted about AEW. The Trump/McMahon friendship seems like such small potatoes, but Linda was in the Cabinet for a good chunk. So maybe the Democrats see this as a small way to stick to Trump's boy.

I am going to defend Twitter. I see it bashed time and time again. I think if you take the time and cull a good list of places to follow it can incredibly informative. I can find out the news, sports scores, who is on tour, wrestling news, latest history book releases. It is just a one stop shop. I have gotten into some good discussions and learned a lot. I have gotten into bad discussions. I once had Lance Storm explain to me that Ultimo Dragon deserved to be in the WON HOF by tweeting me the famous Dragon J-Crown picture, which is a stupid rationale. I had a person tell me to drown in zebra cum because I thought Lex Luger is better than Sting. It is just funny. No reason to get worked up. I'm pro-Twitter.

Vince was a creative genius (perhaps him & Pat) from 1984-1991. It is terrific, simplistic, elegant pro wrestling storytelling. Everything is booked the gimmicks and angles in mind. The matches exist to get either gimmick or the angle over. That's the hook. Yes, the wrestling is not as good as the Southern territories, but is very entertaining and most importantly it is purposeful. The Savage/Warrior match is the highwater mark of Vince's creative genius and is probably the most emotional story pro wrestling could ever generate. After that, I agree with most people. Vince was tapped. Vince loves America and loves childish humor. He like both innocent childish humor and the more raunchy teenage childish humor. It comes through. His takes on humor tend to be bad, but I am not implicit against some levity in pro wrestling like some fans. Vince is indeed a business genius. This is a point Charles (Loss) made to me in one of our discussions. In the late 90s, Vince became a business management genius. He figured out how to take a company on the brink of bankruptcy and turn it into global powerhouse. Austin was necessary, but once Austin flamed out, he figured out how to manage the business in such a way that it continually grows without reliance on a single superstar even though Cena was very critical and I don't want to downplay Cena too much. At some point though, even when you are really good at the business of pro wrestling, it comes time that the product matters. The product has been on steady decline since 2014. It is only through Vince's expert business infrastructure that they have not completely collapsed as fast as they should have. I think it is time that product/creative/content is going to start to matter. They need to up their game. They squandered Rowdy Ronda and The Man Becky Lynch. They will continue to squander opportunities with the current infrastructure.

Yes, he was and he is fucking awesome! Highly recommend his work! Going tonight and realized I need to catch up on these reviews. Episode 6: I watched this one with Joe Gagne. Beyond was celebrating its ten year anniversary. So they had a six man tag featuring a bunch of guys from their beginnings. The Death Match main event was insane. Not a huge fan of Death Match Wrestling, BUT every once in a while it can be fun. Styrofoam makes a great sound. That Door when it broke, fuck it sounded like a gun went off...insane! The powerbomb onto the shopping cart was fucking insane. The most insane thing for me was then dude plunged the fork into the other dude's arm so that it stuck in there. He was moving around with a fucking fork in his arm. I have never seen anything like that live. I think these matches have a lot more visceral impact live. It just doesnt translate on the TV for me at least. Being there and seeing with my own two eyes, another human with a fucking fork in his arm is something else. I am a pretty big fan of Big Momma Pump Jordynne Grace and I thought she got the best possible straight match out of Orange Cassidy. I am not a fan of OC's act, but I thought Kylie Rae did a good job by building a match around their respective gimmicks. Grace said Fuck that and hit him really hard, which is something I can always get behind. I am not taking credit for this, but it did make smile really big. I am relatively loud, but I stand about as far away as possible. She had him up in position for a sidewalk slam and I yelled "THROW HIM THE FUCK DOWN" My God did she ever! I was so happy! She has a great punch and a great lariat. Orange Cassidy was doing the best thing he can do...be a tackling dummy. I thought the Thomas Santell match was not quite as good as the week prior or as good the one from episode 8, but I love how much of a throwback he is. He is like a supped-up version of Dory Funk Jr that fucks. I was a bit late to the show and walked into Briggs vs Dirty Daddy about halfway through. What I caught was good. Dirty Daddy pulling out some Volk Han magic to work over Briggs' injured knee. Episode 6 Highlights: Jordynne Grace hits Orange Cassidy really fucking hard and makes me a very happy fan. The Death Match was batshit insanity and I was glad to see one live. Episode 7: I was on a business trip in Ireland and missed the show. Episode 8: Best show of the year! This was really good. The same week I went to Money In The Bank live in Hartford and Smackdown live in Providence and this show blew the WWE out of the water. Now I know what some of you thinking wrestling fan with an internet presence says "Local Indy smokes WWE" is not especially earth-shattering, but it was how they did it that is what is cool. Beyond Wrestling beat them by having SUPERIOR BABYFACE-HEEL DYNAMICS! It was so good to watch old school wrestling. The opening contest between Solo Darling (who is the best female indy wrestler I have seen besides Tess Blanchard) and Skylar was exquisite babyface vs babyface wrestling. The beautiful symmetry at the beginning all leading to the tempers flaring. It was 5-10 minutes before the first punch was thrown. When Skylar threw it in anger, EVERYONE booed. Not just me, old school traditional wrestling fan, everyone booed. THAT'S PRO WRESTLING! From there Skylar got rougher and Darling got more sympathetic and they blew it off with a perfect crescendo. Terrific studio pro wrestling. The next match was my boy Thomas Santell the Nerd That Fucks Hard! He was going up against some nameless California jerk who was great at getting heat. Again, they were working the crowd to invest in the wrestlers not the MOVEZ~! Santell looked great in this contest best since his first week. I love the nickname, "The Ovaltine Dream". Nick Fucking Gage and Josh Briggs was a FUCKING BANGER worked around knee psychology and just general insanity. The heat was off the charts for this. The Intergender Match du jour was high end comedy wrestling that actually turned serious during the heat segment and had a compact, feel good finish. I believe the team was Milk Chocolate (generic cocky heel tag team) against the Platinum Bunnies, maybe Hunnies. Then comes the climax of the night, "Dirty Daddy" Chris Dickinson and Erick Stevens just lighting each other the fuck up. This was a brutal, UNGODLY stiff match. They were both chopping hard, but Dickinson unleashed the MOST FURIOUS CHOP I have ever heard live. He had everyone myself included clutching our chests in sympathy for Stevens. If you like stiff, brutal wrestling, then this is the match for you. I loved every minute of it. If I recall correctly, the finish was a Burning Lariat that would make Kobashi proud and JBL ejaculate with glee. The tag team match was a bit long in the tooth. The Beaver Boys broke up. The Meat Man, the shorter, muscle-bound one seems like he has a future. He has good kicks. Episode 8 Highlights: Everything! This show was pedal to the fucking metal! Solo Darling vs Skylar have a tremendous old school face vs face match that builds to tempers flaring. Santell and Cali Asshole have a great babyface vs heel match. Nick Fuckin Gage lit up the bar and him Josh Briggs tore it down in their brisk match. The intergenerder match was really good comedy wrestling. Dirty Daddy is Our Savior and Redeemer!

Renee is utter garbage on commentary. I have been sitting on this for a while I just need to let it out. She is even worse than Booker in saying absolutely nonsensical trash. The breaking point for me is when The Revival got caught cheating numerous times and the ref called them on their bullshit ultimately leading to their loss to the Lucha House Party. She had been pro-Luchadores the whole match and then goes on a rant that the Revival was under the microscope the whole match and that the ref cost the Revival the match. THE REVIVAL WAS FUCKING CHEATING! Thats what the ref is supposed to do! It was maddening. She just says the most random things that have absolutely nothing to do with anything. Cole/Corey give her a pass most of the time, but every so often they just have to let her have it. She is brutal on commentary. I am not an advocate for anyone losing their job but I wish they put her back as the lead interviewer (Charly is very good at what she does though) or Greg Gumbel role. So if Ambrose's departure leads to her and she lands a deal with AEW that sounds great to me. Hoepfully they dont put her on commentary.

I thought this was the worst RAW since those terrible RAWs from December Baron Corbin era. The Man Becky Lynch has been cooled off to be ice cold. Rollins is not a strong face on the mic. Zayn is so fucking annoying. I get that's the point of the gimmick but I don't want to watch him bitch about fans. Brock Party is the only saving grace of this wretched show! Brock is the best. I was in Hartford when he won and I went apeshit. Everyone else sat on their hands or booed but I knew that Brock is this show's only saving grace now that Rowdy Ronda is gone. Cocky Shooter Brock is glorious. I loved last week when he mouthed "You kicked me in the balls" when Rollins said he slayed the Beast. Babyfaces shouldn't win like that. Kofi vs Dolph feels like a US Title feud. These are the best Dolph promos ever though I will give him that. Is AJ's injury a shoot? Doesn't seem that way...

My bad. I thought anti-DQ/Draw was about week-to-week booking. Yes for the debut PPV it should feature a clean victory. Is the winner of Jericho/Omega facing the winner of battle royale at Double Or Nothing or at the next PPV? My understanding was the next PPV and this was in regards to PAC vs Omega. Yes, the first championship match should have a clean victory. 100%. My talking point was for week-to-week TV.

Japanese touring and booking make this a realistic model, El-P! You know that. They can hide everyone in six-mans and then only do star vs star singles matches at the Budokan or Sumo Hall, 6-12 times a year. Dont be purposefully obtuse. American booking model is different with week-to-week TV. They could go back to squash matches, which I would not be opposed to that. If you are doing star vs star matches week to week you can do No Contest, DQ and then blowoff week 3. Guess what that blowoff will feel great and earned. Dont make it seem like DQ/CO/NC/Draw is the problem.

Turns out JoeG beat me to it. Thanks JoeG for sticking up for the draw, DQ and countout! Good brutha!

Draws & DQs do make wins/losses matter! It means the wins & losses are more rare! They better not do the constantly trading wins thing. New Japan is totally different booking. They do tours and a lot of the matches are six-mans. They can go that route. It may be the smart thing to just book a lot of tags for TV, but if they go the modern American TV route I hope it is not the trading wins route. DQ, Countouts and draws are effective booking tools. I hate when they are smeared for no reason. Not an attack on you, Mad Dog, brutha more of the stigma associated by modern day bookers, Meltzer and fans to draws, DQs, and countouts.

NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair vs Ronnie Garvin - NWA/JCP Superstars On Superstation The least of the Flair/Garvin series which in my eyes produced three bonafide classics and one really strong TV match in 1984 in Georgia. This is coming off the heels of my favorite Flair vs Garvin match and the hottest studio match of all time on 12/28/85 World Championship Wrestling. It is hellacious, barnburner of a match. I really like the booking as here we are a month later on big Free TV event and Garvin gets his rematch. That was a great way to debut a new match and get the most out of his rematch on this sort of proto-Clash of the Champions event. This did not feel quite as electric as most Flair/Garvin matches do. It is Flair vs Garvin so they beat the piss out of each other, but the fervor was not quite there. I felt like Ronnie was hesitating too much. The beauty of Flair vs Garvin is how organic it feels. You feel like you are watching a bar fight or street fight. Here Garvin was a hair slow on fighting back. Usually their matches it feels like both men are fighting through the other man's offense. This felt like Flair would engage and Garvin would take a second to retaliate. Two good examples of this were Flair grabbing the throat in a heated moment and Garvin taking his time before going to the beak or Flair on the mat going for the throat and Garvin waiting to get the hair. It just did not have that sense of blood-boiling heat that these two usually convey. The beginning was funny too where Garvin looked like the man withe world's shortest arms having trouble locking up with Flair. It was still a very good match I wanted to point out the flaws to explain why it is not as good some of the more heralded Flair vs Garvin classics. It is still Flair vs Garvin so it is very entertaining with them kicking each other's ass. Flair gives his usual energetic performance that keeps you engaged. I love when he busts out the double stomp! I liked the finish. You get a solid visual fall for Garvin with the Hands of Stone, but the ref is on the floor. Flair crashes him from behind with the knee. Then Flair does his Mid-South/Houston finish where the face drapes his leg on the ropes, but Flair removes it as the ref counts three. It is Flair vs Garvin, you cant go wrong, even if Garvin gives a subdued performance. ***1/4

I popped for this. That was a good one!

I loved the presentation of this match on the Network. I wish they did the same thing for The Last Battle Of Atlanta, which was a much bigger find and a much better match. I liked how they pointed out that Magee was supposed to be the Next Big Thing, but it turns out the Next Big Thing was in the ring, but it was the mechanic, Bret Hart. It is a Bret Hart's 80s match through and through. The very clear highlight is the backflip off the top rope->two dropkicks->powder. It was a helluva highspot sequence. Crowd popped huge. It was Magee's best offense way better than the rest of his herky jerky. I have noted in many Bret Hart match reviews that he much like Ric Flair or Arn Anderson had the special talent of having a match unto themselves meaning they both enough offense and stock bumps that they could fit an opponent into their formula take their bumps and do their offense and have a good match. I am happy for those people that were excited about this, but there are countless other examples of Bret and other great 80s workers doing this in the decade. Yes, Magee looked very green and it seems pretty obvious why he didnt pan out not only did he move like a robot, but he lacked the charisma that an Ultimate Warrior or Sid Vicious has to overcome their technical deficiencies.

I feel like it is my birthday, Christmas, Easter and Arbor Day all rolled into one! This is amazing and what I have been searching for. Thank you so much! I'm on a self-imposed sabbatical but I will definitely pull from this list in June when I start watching again! This is so fucking awesome :)

Dude definitely share the set list when you get a chance! I have only reviewed around 75 Crockett matches so definitely looking for more!

So I dropped the ball and missed reviewing Week 4. So here we go... Week 4 featured in my opinion the most sparsely populated and weakest crowd. Week 5 featured a big time rebound in both attendance and crowd heat back to Week 1. Week 4: I thought Jay Freddie vs. Dude Whose Name I Forget was tremendous. Definitely a top 3 match thus far. I likened this match to as if "Kobashi vs Misawa had to debut on Nitro". Really strong. Jay Freddie won me over with work alone and he showed how you can do that! I thought the Dynasty stuff at the beginning was pretty ok. Dickinson and LAX, I guess are a full time stable called Team Pazuzu (sp?). The main event was pretty fun, but also pretty forgettable, definitely the least important main event thus far. The only thing I remember was singing along to Shout at the Devil with Team Pazuzu at the end, which is pretty much my favorite song ever so that was pretty awesome. I LOVED PUFF! He is a comedy Crusher Blackwell! I looked at him and that is what I was hoping for and he delivered. Also, wrestling a gym coach was the perfect foil. Wicked fun. Loved the modern take on Blackwell's weeble wobble selling with Weekend At Bernie's Dance! Great shit. Calling a spade a spade the Beaver Boys match was dragging ass, but I think they realized that and so they brawled on the outside. Then BLEW MY MIND WITH A SUPLEX FROM THE BAR TO THE FLOOR! HOLY SHIT! Week 4 Highlights: Jay Freddie wins the crowd over with an All Japan on Nitro Match. Puff is a Modern Day Crusher Blackwell and needs to be on more shows. SUPLEX FROM THE BAR TO THE FLOOR! SHOUT AT THE DEVIL! Week 5: So this was two nights ago. I thought this was a contender for best show thus far. LAX vs Best Friends was a very fun match. I am not usually too fond of Chatty Cathys in the ring, but LAX is actually pretty funny. It was the type of match that puts a smile on your face. Then we got to the real highlight: The Nerd. He was so good I tried to learn his name. Thomas Santell (Santelli?). Dude comes out and is doing this George McFly gimmick. He is tripping over the ropes and looks uncoordinated. But it is all a hustle. He is a fucking old school bruiser. He rips his opponents apart standing up and on the mat. Best part he won the Discovery Gauntlet so he gets to come back next week. Highly anticipating his return. His post-match promo was good and got an Ovaltine chanted started. It is the best of both worlds: quirky enough so the audience at large likes it and he is actually good in the ring so I will like it. The women's fatal 4-way was very fun. Having watched more and more women's wrestling, I am thinking Solo is the best and am glad she is being treated as such by actually winning. I'll be honest I talked through the tag team match and integender match featuring Statlander so I dont have much an opinion. I will say the crowd heat for the dude that keeps interrupting matches and talking about making "Beyond Wrestling Legit Again" was fucking nuclear! Like I could not hear him at all this week. Great shit! The Main Event pitting Slither vs Beaver Boys was fucking awesome! Just a total Balls To The Wall spotfest that delivered. Anyone says the babyface shine is NOT important and can fucking suck it after watching this match. The crowd heat for the shine was insane! Slither looked great. That one powerbomb holy shit DIRTY DADDY THREW HIS ASS DOWN! I love a mean powerbomb and that was a mean powerbomb. I have this behind Dickinson/MJF and Jay Freddie/Unknown, but this was a fucking fun to the max. Week 5 Highlights: Crowd heat for "Make Beyond Legit Again" Dude and Slither was fucking NUCLEAR! The NERD RULES ALL! We need to book Nerd vs Jay Freddie ASAP! The most important conclusion of the week: SLITHER MOST DEFINITELY FUCKS!

Cap, Boss Rock, Elliot and Micro thank you all so much, you all rule!

I agree the Attitude Era ends in 2001. Cena & Batista winning in 2005 usher in a new era. I think of it as the First Wave of Cena. It is a very stable crew of main eventers that include Cena, Batista, HHH, HBK, Taker, Edge, Orton. At first Angle is in this crew but then Jericho replaces him. JBL, Big Show, Kane and REY Rey are fill ins. This era ends in 2009. 2010 is a crazy year in WWE history. HBK, Batista, Edge & Jericho leave. Taker & HHH are not full time. 75% of your main event is gone. People underestimate how different WWE is in 2010. It is the Second Wave of Cena but now HE IS THE MAN! There are no Attitude Era leftovers supporting him. It is just him & Orton. This is the Era that features a ton of one-off pushes like Miz, Sheamus and Swagger. Only really Punk sticks and eventually Bryan. Bryan's health & Punk's ego/impatience stop them from ushering in a new era. 2015 feels like the start of the current era. Cena's reign as The Man comes to end at the hands of Brock Lesnar. Smart money was this would be the Reign of Roman Reigns but bad booking and health has made this Brock Era the Reprise.

Beyond Wrestling is a New England-based Independent that recently launched on a weekly TV show every Wednesday from 8pm-10pm Eastern on Independent Wrestling TV on April 3rd in Worcester, MA. I first heard of Beyond in 2014 with the rise of grapplefuck being popularized by the likes Biff Busick, Drew Gulak and Timothy Thatcher. I went to a smattering of Beyond shows all in Rhode Island. I dont know if started as a Rhode Island based promotion and moved to Worcester or what have you. I went to one of if not the last Biff Busick's shows on the independents which was a round robing amongst Busick, Gulak and Thatcher needless to say that was one of the best live shows I have ever attended. With Busick & Gulak's departure to WWE, work and a personal life, I stopped going to independent shows. I attended Beyond's New Year Eve show and had a good time even if I did make an ass out of myself vociferously booing & heckling Orange Cassidy. In my defense, I did catch on about halfway through the match that Orange Cassidy is very over and I just have to check my own personal feelings about the gimmick at the door & let everyone else have fun with it. I made it a resolution to attend more live independent shows. I heard that Beyond would be starting a weekly TV series on Wednesdays in April in Worcester. My work is about halfway between Worcester and Boston and it seemed like a fun thing to do on a Wednesday so I bought the season pass. I have attended all three episodes. Here are my thought thus far. Overall, I have been very happy with all three episodes. I have enjoyed the wrestling and have enjoyed the commitment to traditional babyface/heel dynamics. Even though, I rarely know who anyone is I can easily figure out who the babyface and the heel is and follow along with the in-match narrative. The Core Four (Chris Dickinson, Joey Janela, David Starr & MJF): So out of these four, the only I had ever seen before was David Starr who was on the Beyond shows I went to in 2015. I like his promo style a lot. He speaks with a lot of conviction and is readily hateable. He reminds me a lot of heel Shane Douglas on the mic, but has some more stooging elements in the ring that I enjoy. Also Do Ya Wanna Touch by Joan Jett is second greatest theme song of all time (The GOAT Theme Song goes to this SHIMMER Chick that uses Black Sabbath/Taylor Swift mash-up, ask Stacey (Jimmy Redman), she will tell you it is the GOAT) MJF I was aware from the Stone Cold podcast. I was not in love with Stone Cold podcast because he tried to do it in gimmick, but at his core is a nice guy. He would try to give kudos to people and then work back into his gimmick. It caused weird inconsistencies. Stone Cold actually was a really good interviewer in helping him navigate that and also being along for the ride. I like the MJF gimmick. It is a tried & true pro wrestling gimmick that will never get old of the rich sissy that thinks he is better than everyone else because he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. I mentioned this to Pete (aka Shoe) & Johnny P when I met them over Mania weekend that I think MJF plays a pro wrestling heel whereas I think David Starr comes off more organically as a prick. Shoe disagreed with me he thinks Starr comes off as more over the top and forcing it. He thinks MJF is more natural. I was aware of Joey Janela because of his Spring Break which I have never seen just thought it was a cool name for a show and from the Stone Cold podcast. I thought it was a strong episode of the show but I thought he was surprisingly humble & quiet. Chris Dickinson aka The Dirty Daddy is someone I have never heard of before. I think of them as the Core Four because they are the ones who have had storyline development week-to-week. David Starr wrestled the visiting Masato Tanaka in the first episode's main event. I thought this was the match of the night. Tanaka looked amazing. He is still one of the best verbal sellers of all time. You can really tell the difference between the undercard and the main event. Just how Masato Tanaka was able to show fire that really engaged the crowd and how good David Starr is at carrying himself as a heel. The Joey Janela surprise appearance to cost David Starr the match actually felt huge. Like I said, I barely know these characters but I could feel the heat. Janela definitely looks like a star and "The Bad Boy" moniker is a great one. Tanaka absolutely clocked Starr with a wicked chair shot to the back of the head. It looked brutal! Very electric end to show. I will be honest my memory is already hazy but I believe Dickinson had his six-man tag screwed up because of Starr and he also made an appearance during the main event. This led to the tag team main event the next week of Janela & Dickinson vs. Starr & MJF. I thought the promo segment in the middle of the show was excellent. Four unique and distinct characters that really mesh well together. I thought the tag team main event was again the best match of the night. The Dirty Daddy has totally won me over as my favorite wrestler on these shows. He is like a mini-Gronk, fun-loving, but a total asskicker in the ring. He hits hard, good seller and is very athletic. Janela showed me more in the way of personality and crowd interactions. I didnt think much of his in-ring work. MJF and Starr are just gold together. I see Modern Day Midnight Express with those two. They really could be the best heel tag team of the next day if they committed to working with each other full-time. The third episode they took a step back and let Orange Cassidy main event. Also, Starr & Janela did not appear. I though MJF and Dirty Daddy had easily the best match of any of the first three episodes. To me, it was the first truly great match produced by this show. The opening matwork was great. Dickinson was busting out Volk Han magic. MJF is such a great stooge. The arm psychology in the middle was excellent. MJF rocked both the work and the character aspects. Dirty Daddy sold well. I loved the double stomp to the arm when Dickinson had the ropes ala Smaurai/Otani. Dickinson showed great fire, loved the struggle over the belly to belly for Dickinson. The finish was great because these are your two most over acts there was NO reason for a clean finish instead they introduced MJF's Dynasty buddy, Richard Holliday. I attended two MLW shows over Mania weekend. I am a little bummed because I hope they dont drop the MJF/Starr pairing because Holliday is a step back. It does look to be headed in that direction as Y2J Jr. from MLW is debuting this coming week for Beyond. My only hope is that the Hart Foundation will show up at one point. Teddy Hart won me over huge during Mania Weekend and I think Brian Pillman Jr. is one of the best young talents out there. Go out of your way to check out the Dickinson/MJF match from Episode 3. Champion Orange Cassidy: Their champion is Orange Cassidy. If you have seen Orange Cassidy and read my wrestling reviews, you know I am not going to like him much. The nonchalant attitude and treating wrestling like a joke is anathema to me. I will say this. He is incredibly over. So I will let people have their fun. It is also very impressive that he can run the ropes and do so many spots with his hands in his pockets. He does use his props well. Like when the heel goes after the sunglasses or he busts out the Orange Juice it does feel like a big deal. I just think the whole thing is really not that funny. Like slow motion spots or not selling holds are not funny and insult me as a fan. Other people dont feel that way and if I was the promoter I would push him too, but does not mean I have to like it. I finally did see an entertaining Orange Cassidy match against Kylie Rae. Kylie Rae is indy Bayley but even nerdier. She comes out to the Pokemon theme. The way I would describe is Bayley appeals to little girls and as creepy as it sounds Kylie Rae caters to the nerdy male demo. I thought the gimmicks did mes well and they came up with some cute spots. The best of which was the thumb war. The reason the Thumb War worked is because they sold it. They sold the struggle and when Kylie Rae did finally best Orange he sold his fucking ass off. I think thats why issue with Orange is he won't feel traditional wrestling but he will his sell cute, little LOLuniverse he lives in. The Thumb War was fucking great. I thought this was the NOAH 2008 of comedy matches in that. It was a good thing that went on 10-15 minutes too long. It peaked at the Thumb War and petered out. Undercard: As for the undercard, what has stood out to me was the Aussie Open specifically the big dude who I believed is named Mark Davis. Great hot tag. I see a lot of upside. I liked Jordynn Grace a lot, muscular dynamo. Solo Darling (Daring?) impressed me in her technical match with Wheeler Yuta. Anyways, I have enjoyed the last three episodes live and I encourage people to watch as it is a fun, breezy two hour show. I will write my thoughts down every week as opposed to waiting as long I to do this.