Jimmy Redman

I just can't take Buddy Murphy seriously with that accent.

I like how Nia Jax's gimmick is that she's a dumb ass. She's a giant in a land of girls, towering over all of them and able to toss them all around at will. BUT she's green and prone to silly mistakes. So against Bayley she gets trapped in a guillotine and doesn't know what to do. In this match she showed it by tossing Asuka around, but then making lazy, arrogant "lay my hands on them" pin covers. And then at the finish when she started getting kicked in the head and was all like "Yeah! Kick me some more!" and got fucking killed. What's scary about Nia though, is that she is, slowly but surely, learning from these mistakes. After being choked out by Bayley, girls are constantly trying to guillotine her but she now has counters for it. After making a douchebag cover, her next big power move was followed up with a REALLY tight cover. It's just that she doesn't learn fast enough to be able to win a big match. Still, if Nia ever gets all of her shit together at once and gets through a match without making some bone-headed rookie move, the title is all hers. Her inexperience is what keeps the other girls on her level, despite the size difference. But she won't be inexperienced forever, and if she ever turns all the lights on, she has the size and power to be truly unstoppable. In other news, the tag title match was the stuff dreams are made of. Like, best match of the year, non-Sami/Nak division, type stuff. Also, the people taking Shinsuke's song - a song with no words and a harsh violin line that is impossible to sing - and deciding to SING IT FOREVER just like I do in my car was the greatest moment in the history of our great sport.

My Sheamus as Misawa talking point had little to do with multiple finishers and almost everything to do with how he worked as an ace in a similar way to him.

He cut a lot of long promos in 2011 as Dr Doom Cody. In fact in those early months, January through April, through the whole Rey Mysterio feud, he cut a lot of great promos. I don't care so much for the later, paper bag stuff, but early mask Cody was great. The first big one he cut after his face was smashed was when I first thought "Damn, this guy can really talk." In terms of featured matches, he hasn't really had a lot of it for a guy who's been on TV for so long and held IC Titles and stuff. But there's some there, and he's generally quite good when given those kinds of chances. He feuded with Randy for a bit in late 2011 on Smackdown, culminating in a long Street Fight that blew off the masked character. He has the other big match with Randy on Raw in 2013 to kick off the Rhodes/Authority angle. Two big PPV matches with Rey at WM27 and Extreme Rules 2011. There's a PPV match with Christian sometime in 2012. All pretty good stuff. Can't speak much to the Stardust run. EDIT: Or that.

I was more offended by the unnecessary jump cut on the missed spear through the barricade which resulted in not being able to see what the fuck happened until they showed a clear replay. I hate that, but yeah the corny zoom ins on repeated blows are annoying as fuck too.

My beef isn't with people booing Roman or whatever. I was talking about "YOU STILL SUCK" chants specifically. They always make me laugh - whether they're aimed at Cena, Roman or whoever else - because they're so ridiculous.

Furthermore, anyone who has a problem with AJ Styles officially being the 39th greatest wrestler ever can watch him fucking dying for our sins in this match.

"YOU STILL SUCK" is my favourite hypocritical douchebag smark chant. Especially when it comes moments after "YOU CAN'T WRES-TLE!" Cena used to get it all the time. It's the ultimate "I'm so convinced you suck because REASONS that even when you admittedly do something totally awesome I still have to immediately reaffirm that you suck. I mean I'm not sure why you suck, since you keep doing this awesome stuff that I have to acknowledge and then disavow lest I ruin my smark cred, but, but...you still suck!" There's also its dorky cousin, the "Sure Cena/Roman has all of these awesome matches, but, but...he was carried! They were with great workers! They were gimmicked! They were laid out by Arn! There was something in my eye! The dog ate my homework..."

Sheamus seems to be the most notable example nowadays.

If a girl wanted to make it clear she's a girl, she'd use her name. But they never do. My point in all this is that while of course there are plenty of gender-neutral usernames, there is also Matt, multiple Tims, Dylan, Ricky/Kelly, Jerry/Parv, Johnny, Jay, Phil, Drew, Steve, Sean, etc. And not any Staceys or Laurens or anything else. (There's actually a Judy Bagwell on the board, but that strikes me more as a wrestling in-joke rather than someone's name obviously, and I assume Judy Bagwell is a man anyway. More to the point I guess, even someone who IS called Judy...I still assume they're a guy.) On the pronouns, I have always floated between using "I'm a this guy" and "I'm this type of girl" depending on the exact turn of phrase and how I feel in that particular moment. But I'm not claiming to have any wider point to make about that other than that I like to play with gendered pronouns when I write. It amuses me.

Lucha Underground 1.03 "Crossing the Border" Alternate title: "Why Chavo Why?" Answer: Who gives a shit, it's Chavo Fucking Guerrero. Dario Cueto and Konnan having Godfather conversations in Dario Cueto's Office are the gangsterest shit ever. I loved Dario Cueto trolling the crowd with the most stereotypical Mexican gimmick ever. But then Mascarita Sagrada! This has improved. The minorities of wrestling - women, minis - always seem to debut against typical American jobbers...wearing masks. This was fun for being everything you'd expect - heel underestimates minority and gets surprised with a bunch of rana-themed offense. I did like the finish though, a guillotine choke into a rollup is a pretty out there finish that I was not expecting. And here's Chavo Fucking Guerrero out to beat him up. Boo Chavo, boo, you are so mean, etc. Also, Vamp going from leading a "MAS-CA-RI-TA" chant to "I'm so glad Chavo beat that midget up" for no apparent reason was kind of stupid. Chavo cuts every Heel Justifying A Heel Turn promo ever in his sit down with Vamp, but it is made interesting by the way that they shoot it. LU production makes everything better. Speaking of which, everything involving Chavo in the hallway here was AWESOME, from Konnan sending him a warning from the streets of Mexico, to him turning around into Mil and Catrina giving him her own warning. Chavo wanted to be a bad guy, but to do that he's pissed off just about everyone, so now he has to walk the walk. Seriously these vignettes are sick. I liked the way they added a piece of Mil's backstory in this, just a tease before the match to give some purpose to the squash. At least now I know why he has a pet rock. Mil's spear is still great. Speaking of sick vignettes, Johnny Mundo has probably never looked more badass in his whole life than when he beat the shit out of the Budget Rottweilers in the hallway and calmly stepped over them to eyeball Dario Cueto in his Office. When I saw him coming down the corridor I had a fleeting panic of "Oh God! John Morrison Acting!!" but I was wrong, this was great. WWE makes this guy look like the most wooden human being to ever emote on this earth. LU makes him look like John Wayne. Mundo's pointed use of Spanish reminded me of another awesome part of Lucha Underground: it is hopefully improving my Spanish which, as anyone who listened to Parejas Increibles knows, is fucking dreadful. Loved the turnaround vignette too, with Dario Cueto genuinely rattled and Big Ryk cashing in by fleecing him for stacks. No honour among rudos. Well if The Authority has taught us anything, it's that heel GMs and their heel champions actually hate each other, but will go to tremendous lengths to protect, support and massively cheat for one another because...reasons. The main event of Fenix vs Drago vs Pentagon Jr was a ridiculous collection of spots, and I mean that in the best possible way. I think it's the most amount of co operative spots I've ever seen in a match where none of the participants never at any point actually teamed up. Again, I mean that kindly. Fenix's big dive off the platform was suitably nutty, although Striker did his best to ruin it with his horribly forced, Cole-esqe "This. Is. Lucha Underground~!!!" call. He also couldn't stop himself from using the phrase "phoenix rising from the ashes" in this match for NO fucking reason, because he is a terrible, terrible commentator. Despite that, Fenix is great and the thing where he gets tossed into the air and does a somersault before coming down with the rana is the coolest fucking thing I've ever seen. When the show began I was wondering why Dario Cueto has a giant ugly silver key for a necklace. Now I have a vague idea. The idea that Dario Cueto has some kind of crazy, vicious monster heel LOCKED UP BEHIND BARS for emergencies is an idea I can get behind. And I am ignorant enough about LU spoilers that I either don't know or have forgotten who this is, which makes it even better. This is a great show.

That one I don't get at all. I watched it fairly recently and thought it was a pretty good brawl actually. They got a lot out of what they did. And I had always thought it was disappointing too. Their HIAC is the real shit show.

Do you really think he would have finished in the top 40 without that New Japan run? Especially if these TNA re-appraisals are retroactive. If he crashes and burns in the WWE where does it all go? Up in a puff of smoke? He strikes me as the only guy in the top 50 who's still active and can make or break their case over the next few years. No I don't, and that's my point. He was toiling away in TNA doing good work for a decade, but he was also victim to TNA shitassery, hardly anyone (in these circles I mean) saw a lot of it and TNA is such an unfashionable place from which to claim there is good work. Then he left for NJ and not only has he been doing really good work there too, but it is without stupid booking dragging him down, in a style that people are more likely to appreciate, and he's in a place where more of us are willing to watch him regularly and more willing to give the work the benefit of the doubt. If we did this poll in 2013 he'd have had nowhere near the support he gets now. But I'm saying it's not that he's only been good in NJ, it's that his good NJ run opened eyes and allowed his whole career to be explored on its own merits without worrying about TNA stink. I think there's a similar point to be made about Daniel Bryan, frankly. No way Bryan without the WWE run gets into the Top 10. None. The WWE run was a great run in its own right, but it also got MANY more eyes on him, and prompted many people to revisit his indy career and analyse it retroactively and a little detached from the style itself (which could turn people off just like TNA does, although clearly not as much).

Thank you guys. I'm interested to hear the perspectives of any of the other women here. That's certainly something I could do. When I made my Top 100 list the other day I had a fleeting thought of just limiting it to post-Attitude WWE so that I had an excuse to fill it up with post-Attitude WWE (as I did anyway), but then I thought fuck it, this is a list of my favourite matches and I can put whatever the fuck I want on it. Other people can fill their list up with 80s NWA matches or 90s AJPW matches and nobody bats an eyelid about their tunnel vision, but if you have the same amount of modern WWE you're too young or you have no taste or whatever the fuck. Fuck that. Sorry that has nothing to do with the topic, I'm just venting. If I did such a thing I'd want to do it properly, by rewatching and doing proper reviews. If it was just a list I could write it out right now (and it wouldn't look too different to my own list!). But something to think about now that GWE is over. It is and it isn't. In general it isn't which is why people feel the need to do this in the first place, subconsciously or otherwise. But then when they find a safe space they feel comfortable enough to open up and be themselves. You see the same thing in all walks of life. Take the way that some gay people don't necessarily reveal themselves to strangers or people they've just met, but once they're comfortable around a group they'll open up and it will be no big deal. But it's only not a big deal because they've found a safe place to be themselves in. And they don't always find such a thing.

Him leaving TNA for New Japan both exposed him to people who refused to watch TNA, and made it acceptable to think of him as a great worker. But he's been great for a very long time, it's not like his case is based solely on a two year NJ run or anything.

Lucha Underground 1.02 "Los Demonios" We open at the close: Big Zeke and the Budget Rottweilers in the ring. Now they have names! Cortez Castro sounds like the worst possible FCW/NXT name generator result for some Hispanic guy they signed. Poor Budget Low Ki. Budget Homicide fared better with Sisqo, because it reminds me of the Thong Song and that is a fun time. Big Zeke is now Big Ryk! I'm gonna be completely honest here, I legit thought his shoot name was pronounced "Rye-klon" not "Rick-lon", so whenever I read LU news I thought he was going around being called "Big Rike" and thought it was stupid. Now, I get it. His name is Rick. Anyway Johnny Mundo comes out for revenge, Puma joins in and Dario Cueto becomes even more awesome because he sticks his head out a door and makes a Teddy Long Holla Holla Smackdown Tag Team Match, Playa! First of all, Big Ryk sitting on the staircase smoking a cigar watching the match is the bossest thing ever. Again, I'm glad they're taking advantage of the different environment and different layout of the Temple. This was a super fun tag team match, really good pace and going just the right amount of time. The Rottweileritos are a perfectly solid bumping, stomping heel team. And Mundo and Puma are a great running, diving, flippydo face team. I like how by the end of the match they we're getting comfortable and daring to do wacky spots playing off each other, ending in the final double 450 finish. Mundo DIED on that missed tornillo on the outside. This was a rollicking good time. I like how during the match the announcers were speculating that Konnan wouldn't like Puma tagging with Mundo, and then later we get a vignette that shows Konnan telling Puma not to have friends. I like this angle of the young face who remains likeable even while being corrupted by the heel manager. As time goes on I feel like Konnan will exert more control over him and force him to do things he's conflicted with, and it becomes a battle for Puma's soul. I can only hope. Since the last show I figured out that Son of Havoc is Matt Cross. He joins fellow Tough Enough alum Ivelisse. And here to bring me down, Chavo Fucking Guerrero. Is there a single Chavo match ever that doesn't mention His Uncle Eddie, the Late, Great Eddie Guerrero? I'd feel sorry for him living his life as Eddie Guerrero's Nephew, but then I remember...it's Chavo. Like last week's Sexy Star match, I enjoyed this and feel like they're doing inter-gender well. It's interesting to think about that there's sort of an extra layer of working on the part of the wrestlers for this kind of match, where they have to be careful that Chavo as the babyface doesn't get into a position where he looks like he's beating on a woman too aggressively. When he's in there with Ivelisse he's basically just defending himself from her attacks. So there's kind of a higher degree of difficulty there, match layout-wise. Just something that struck me. Ivelisse looked good for maybe the second time I've ever seen her work. I liked the double teaming and the ongoing story of Sexy Star wanting at Havoc. I popped for the girls' mad brawl in the middle of this. And I laughed at Vampiro making the big speech for gender equality, and then like 30 seconds later he starts screaming "Catfight!" Baby steps, guys. I also wasn't wild about Chavo basically having the match won and then letting Sexy beat a defenseless Havoc as her big "revenge" and making it all about Chavo being such a gentleman, but whatever. Baby steps. I've enjoyed the Mil Muertes introductory stuff. I don't know what it says about me that when Catrina licked Demon's face I was like "eww, gross!" I feel like Muertes as put on like 50 lbs. since I saw him last. He's a big boy. Blue Demon Jr must be like a hundred years old right? I was kind of surprised at how even this match was, but I suppose they're trying to push Demon as a thing too. The spear at the end looked nasty because Demon is solid and it looked like he ran into a brick wall...and knocked it down. The flatliner though. Really? Cue the beatdown and then Chavo Fucking Guerrero making the save! I like how in the beginning they're doing a lot of this beatdown/run in stuff to establish who is a face and who is-WOAHBAM~! OK, as a wrestling fan I should have seen that coming. Chavo beats the shit out of everyone. Then Sexy Star comes out to reason with him, and while I knew THIS was coming because it's 2014 and we're a promotion of gender equality, it was still a BIG moment when he brained her with the chair. THIS is a heel turn motherfuckers. And he goes back to killing Demon. OK, Chavo sitting down on the chair joyfully watching the paramedics cart Demon off is one of the best things Chavo Fucking Guerrero has ever done. And he's still not done and they basically have to grab the stretcher and run away with it to get away from this maniac. This was done so well I'm not even mad that the show is being built around Chavo Guerrero: Top Heel.

Do it! Who are they? Picking and choosing from the categories, mostly your original ones since they're more GWE relevant, and trying to keep it out of my Top 5 or 10, at the very least, unless there's a special reason. Just take it for granted that I love everyone at the top of my ballot in every possible way there is to love a man. NEW FAVOURITE WRESTLER 1. Toshiaki Kawada - Oops, already broke my rule. But going through 90s AJPW, I quickly discovered that of all of them Kawada is "my guy". I like grumpy Japanese assholes, I like his next level selling, and his matches are my favourite of the period. 2. Akira Taue - He's my second favourite. I push back strongly at the notion that he's not on the same level as the other three, and my biggest regret of my ballot is not having him closer to them, which was an oversight on my part. 3. Rollerball Rocco - This guy blew me away with his rudo-esqe heel schtick and work, and is easily my favourite British guy outside of Breaks. 4. Yoshinari Ogawa - I had no idea this kind of goofy, ridiculous character was running around in AJPW. He's so entertaining and awesome. OLD FAVOURITE WRESTLER 1. Steve Austin - I've always liked Austin and thought his work was good, but everything I've seen of him in the last couple years has totally held up or been even better than I imagined. I don't know if I'd have put him in my Top 10 at the beginning of the project. 2. Andre the Giant - Ever since I first started in on older wrestling I've been impressed with Andre, both the younger and more mobile version and the older, smarter version. Nothing has changed. 3. Undertaker - I've said my piece. He's never been my favourite wrestler or anything, but I always knew he could go, and after examining him through a GWE lens I've come to appreciate even more how exceptionally talented he is. 4. Fuerza Guerrera - From the very first lucha I watched Fuerza stood out to me as an entertaining guy. After getting into lucha as much as I have, that doesn't even scratch the surface. He's my favourite rudo and my favourite luchador. MOST CONSISTENT 1. Arn Anderson - Goes without saying. 2. AJ Styles - Consistently put the effort in and had good matches and good performances for over 14 years now, no matter what he was dragged down into in TNA. 3. Matt Hardy - Super consistent week to week wrestler. 4. Christian - Much the same. I can't remember which podcaster said "When has Christian ever been bad? He hasn't!" But it's true. HIGHEST PEAK 1. Brock Lesnar - Pretty self explanatory. He reaches places nobody else can. 2. Akira Hokuto - Again, obvious. Her peak is her entire case, and it's a hell of a case. 3. Manami Toyota - Due to her style, ambition and physical ability, when she knocks it out of the park she TRULY knocks it out of the park. 4. El Samurai - It doesn't seem like he has much meat, but his best matches are the best juniors matches in history and stack up against anyone's. BEST ALL ROUND WORKER 1. Eddie Guerrero - Yes he's in my Top 5, but there's no other answer to this. He's transcendentally great as a heel and face, and can work a variety of different styles in a variety of different places, all really well. 2. Terry Funk - Pretty much the same, he can hit that high level at extreme opposites of character, and can get over anywhere doing anything. 3. Negro Casas - He's the most exceptionally talented guy to ever come out of lucha, and can do absolutely everything that is ever asked of him. 4. Chris Jericho - Maybe the most versatile and all-round talented performer in WWE history, he can work any spot on the card, heel or face, any style of character, singles or tag teams, any single role they have for him, and can come up with the angles, cut the promos and work the matches to go along with it. BEST BABYFACE 1. Jerry Lawler - Yep. 2. Ricky Morton - Defined an entire babyface role for himself. The perfect babyface tag worker. 3. Sami Zayn - THE sympathetic babyface worker of this generation, can do it in all roles - indies or WWE, singles or tags, spotfests to garbage matches - and has classic matches at the same time. 4. Jeff Hardy - Incredibly charismatic and has an unmatched connection to the crowd, and again, parlays that heat into great matches and memorable spots. BEST HEEL 1. Jim Breaks - The best pure heel ever. Nobody is an asshole like he is. 2. Arn Anderson - He's sort of the quintessential heel worker. 3. Tully Blanchard - One of the best characters ever, a pure asshole down to his toes. 4. Mayumi Ozaki - Shoutout to the biatch pulling hair and cheating her ass off in the middle of the whirlwind of moves that is joshi. That appeals to me more than the more obvious monster heeling from Dump, Aja and the like. Honourable Mention: Eddie in 2005 and Austin in 2001 are the two best short-term heel runs I've ever seen. BEST OLD MAN WRESTLER 1. Genichiro Tenryu - He may have been born at the age of 45. 2. Negro Casas - He seems to constantly get better with age, and he was always good. 3. William Regal - A strange choice maybe since he's not THAT old, but it's his work as Old Man Regal that sold me on him. 4. Blue Panther - Has some of the best matches of his career, and the entirety of 21st century lucha, as an Old Man in apuestas and shit. BEST HIGH FLYER 1. El Hijo Del Santo - Simply has some of the most beautiful moves ever. Timeless. 2. Atlantis - I love watching him fly around the ring more than pretty much anyone else. 3. Great Sasuke - I'm a big fan of reckless guys in ninja outfits throwing their bodies around. Sasuke was probably the best at that. 4. Kota Ibushi - Shoutout to the prettiest and most enjoyable high flyer of the current generation. Obviously excepting Rey. BEST BRAWLER 1. Sheamus - Comes off as super hard hitting and a rugged manly man, which makes him stand out in a sanitized WWE. Can brawl with anyone. 2. Ronnie Garvin - Self explanatory. 3. Shinobu Kandori - The most badass brawler of all the girls, she can make shit feel super dangerous. 4. Pirata Morgan - Probably the guy who can get me into lucha brawls more than anyone else, so he gets credit for that. Obviously excepting Stan. And Austin. BEST TECHNICAL WRESTLER 1. Volk Han - Someone made the point that his matwork is like highspots. He makes this shit more exciting than anyone else. 2. Kiyoshi Tamura - Much the same, he makes matwork so much more dramatic and dynamic than it has any right to be. 3. The Destroyer - Awesomely entertaining old school matwork, with all of the tricks. 4. Yoshiaki Fujiwara - This is in a different sense than simply "matwork", but more for the way in which he moves around the ring and approaches things from a physical perspective. In the "technical" sense of wrestling (as opposed to the emotional or character-based or flashy stuff) he's fascinating to watch. Honourable Mention: Soooooo many British guys. If I listed one I'd have to list them all, but British matwork is the best matwork. Watch it all. BIGGEST SURPRISE 1. Jushin Thunder Liger - I've said this many times, but I never "got" Liger forever and would have never imagined 12 months ago that I'd have him as high as #17. One day, it clicked with me and I now "get" him so hard. One of the best aces ever. 2. Owen Hart - Similarly, I was just saying only recently that Owen never resonated with me as a great worker, but then I enjoyed the Shamrock stuff, dove deep and really enjoyed everything he did and started to understand what made him great. Again, never imagined he'd make my top half. 3. Dynamite Kansai - As a joshi novice, the names you hear about are guys like Aja, Toyota, Hokuto, Bull, etc. I had NEVER heard about Dynamite Kansai being a super worker, so when I dove in and started watching these tags and shit she leaped off the page. I truly had no idea. 4. Pat Roach - How in the utter fuck is this guy not talked about ever? British heavyweights get totally shafted and he's the biggest victim because he's fucking awesome and should be spoken about alongside all of the great names: Breaks, Grey, Jones, Saint. Roach is fucking awesome. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT 1. Harley Race - The boring Flair match turned me off years ago, but I was willing to reconsider for this project. And nope, I still don't get it. 2. El Dandy - Probably has the biggest "hype relative to what I actually see" ratio. BUT with the caveat that most of the Dandy I watched was in the pre-"getting it" period. 3. Jun Akiyama - I ranked him, but I have him WAY below so many other people seem to. I don't see this all-time super worker or a guy who compares to the Pillars at all. 4. Dick Murdoch - Like Harley, I hear the praise and then I watch the matches and...nothing. I could have listed other guys that I don't really "get" relative to other people like Windham or Choshu, but in all fairness that disappointment pre-dates GWE, to the point where I didn't look at a lot of their stuff for this project, so they don't fit the category. FAVOURITE STYLE OF WRESTLING 1. AJPW 90s scene - It sounds crazy to some but I was a total novice on this period when this project started. I dove straight into the greatest hits basically parallel to (but independent of) Parv and Grim on the Excite Series. I can find overkill problematic just as much as the next guy so I wasn't sure how exactly I'd take it, but I fucking love this stuff and think it is elite level, top wrestling. This whole project I've had trouble keeping my eyes open when watching basically any wrestling. It literally sends me to sleep and often the thought of watching a long match would drive me to despair. Of all the non-WWE I watched for this project, 90s AJPW was the easiest to watch and the least likely to send me to sleep. This stuff holds up. 2. World of Sport - I've loved British wrestling since I first laid eyes on it, and every match I watch reaffirms that love. I already knew I loved Breaks, but I've got into so many more British guys in the last couple years, particularly the heavyweights, who kind of fly under the radar but who are just as good as the lighter guys. If you're one of those people who still hasn't checked it all out yet, do so immediately. 3. Lucha trios matches - I'm not wild about lucha brawling. I can still find matwork in title matches or maestros matches co operative or unengaging. But I can pretty much watch any lucha trios ever and enjoy it on some level. Whether it's the quality of the tecnico flying, the quality of the rudo stooging, the escalation of the match across the falls, a strong individual matchup...there's something to love. Trios are my gateway into lucha. Honourable Mentions: I couldn't pick a 4th one out of these, and putting them with the others seems too strong still, so they can all go here. From my watching for this project I have found more enjoyment in watching joshi, shoot style and 90s juniors matches than I ever thought possible. Obviously this doesn't include WWE. WHO MISSED THE CUT If asked today, these guys are my #101-110. Randy Savage Perro Aguayo Jr. (these two were my last minute cuts to make way for my last minute inclusions) John Morrison Chris Masters Batista Super Astro Toshiyo Yamada Larry Zbyszko Curt Hennig Ted DiBiase

Trump running for President is what it must feel like to live in a universe booked by Vince Russo.

I said before I wanted to explore the idea of being a female online wrestling fan, but to be honest I'm not sure where to go with it. It's not something I've ever thought too much about. Like when Matt and I did the podcast and people mentioned that I was the first woman to host a show on the network...that part of it never even occurred to me. I'm not sure if people think of me as "the girl" around here, but I don't generally think of myself that way. I think I only really think about it when some issue of gender or masculinity comes up on here in a wrestling context and I find myself bemused (or amused) by the opinions of the male majority. And it's usually not something offensive or anything, it's just that I suddenly remember that I'm a woman in a room full of men and we perceive these issues differently. But most of the time around here it's not something I'm acutely aware of, because as I've said, this is a fairly intelligent and respectful board. Of course, once you get into the wider community of wrestling fans you encounter all kinds of misogyny. People that claim that female wrestlers have no talent and aren't worthy of pushes or airtime. The never ending focus on their looks and relationships and how fuckable they are and MGFanJay screencaps. And that's before you get to the truly hideous stuff, from the explicit language used to describe either "what I'd do to her hyuk hyuk" or how ugly and unfuckable they are, to the lecherous creeps who harass female wrestlers and buy their sweaty used ringwear and shit. And these kinds of things aren't confined to wrestling of course, but they are absolutely present in wrestling. And these attitudes are a reflection of, and reflected back on wrestling itself, and all of the inherent sexism involved in the business and the presentation on TV. It's hard to blame fans for treating the women like tits and ass when that has historically how they've always been both treated and portrayed by wrestling companies. Someone made the point earlier about what a woman outside of the wrestling bubble would think if she watched a random Raw and saw how the women were dressed, how little they mattered, how rude the announcers were towards them, how objectified and demeaned they were. Wrestling fans always ask why wrestling is seen as so low brow by the media, by the general populace, by sponsors...one of the reasons why is that their treatment of women is on about the level of Jerry Springer or wet t-shirt contests. And it's something that as a wrestling fan and a socially aware person (not to mention as a woman) you have to kind of compartmentalize and accept to a certain extent, to not be put off from watching it, but I mean, that's the reality of it. One thing that has struck me just now, and I'm not sure if it's pure coincidence or there's something to it, but maybe the lack of representation of females in online wrestling circles is not only a matter of numbers, but also a lack of awareness due to identities being obscured by usernames on message boards. My name is Jimmy Redman, and I'm sure most posters wouldn't have been aware that I was a woman until I mentioned it or they heard my voice or whatever. I'm gonna be honest, I had no idea El McKell was a woman until very recently. I'm pretty sure there's another regular poster who is female with a gender-neutral name that I can't think of right now. And there are a lot of non-gendered usernames used by men too but really, unless someone explicitly has a female name, if someone is on a wrestling message board you're going to assume they're a guy. So now that I've noticed that, I'm wondering why that is? Are we as females subconsciously choosing online identities that obscure our gender? Is it easier to be accepted in an online wrestling community if you let everyone assume you're a man? Is it the hyper-masculinity of wrestling itself that lends itself to downplaying one's feminine side in favour of more masculine or at least gender-neutral aspects? Or am I just reading a whole lot into random selection of screen names? I don't know the answer to that. Even for myself. I choose this name for my CAW on Smackdown vs Raw games, so I used it when I started on wrestling message boards. I have no recollection of whether obscuring my gender played into my thinking at all, consciously or otherwise. I was like 14 years old, and as I kid I had a more complex relationship with gender than the average girl because I was such a tomboy (and then later realised I was gay). When I was little, whenever I role played in any kind of playing situation, it was usually as a guy. I was the Red Power Ranger, not the pink one, you know? So I honestly couldn't tell you whether it was just me preferring male alter egos, or whether it was a wrestling thing, or whether it was just about online anonymity and had nothing to do with gender issues. But seen that I'm not the only woman who has a name like this, I thought I'd put the question out there.

Problem is, WWE are already doing that themselves with NXT.

I find it interesting reading threads like these that are full of praise for Roman Reigns as champ and wanting him to keep the belt forever and have all these "big matches", and talk about how much of a star he is. Is this the same guy that had one of the most heatless Mania main events and worst coronations ever? The same guy who's megapush has been a massive failure? The same guy people always beg Vince to stop forcing down their throats? What has changed? Have you always been on board with Roman and it's completely different people posting in threads? Has the little character tweak with him becoming a tweener helped? Was the Mania debacle all on Hunter? Is this just an interesting feud? I'm curious because this appears like such an about face generally speaking.

I've been meaning to dive into Lucha Underground for a long time, but never got around to it. Until now. We'll see how long I keep this up, but for now I'll be having a look, and this is just a place to jot down my thoughts as I go along. Can't promise how detailed they'll be - I'm watching this for fun, not to critique too rigorously. I'm sure I watched the debut episode when it first aired, but I haven't seen any of it since, so I need to start back at the very beginning (which is why I'm staying out of the other thread). Lucha Underground 1.01 "Welcome to the Temple" First off, I have to state for the record so hopefully I don't keep repeating myself that I love the overall presentation of the show. Grandiose openings about ancient Aztec warriors, telenovela style, film-quality vignettes starring Konnan and shit, and the wrestling taking place in a dingy, underground looking (forgive me) warehouse...it's all excellent stuff. Great presentation. I even like that they have episode titles, credits for the executive producers, clips in the opening. If you're going to be a TV show, be a TV show. And I think they do a great job of admitting they're a TV show while still retaining the unique live quality of watching a wrestling match take place. Dario Cueto is the sleaziest person I've ever seen. He is so perfect as the evil heel GM. I was regretting all my life decisions when the first thing I'm hit with is a Chavo Guerrero match with Matt Striker announcing. What is this, ECW circa 2008? Chavo fucking Guerrero, truly one of the worst major wrestlers ever. But he's somehow infinitely more tolerable working a 5 minute old man lucha match with Blue Demon Jr. I ROFLed heartily when he got powerbombed off the top and submitted, so there's that. I'm scared there's going to be far too much Chavo on this show for my liking though. I loved the profile on Sexy Star. Abuse victim who found solace in wrestling and brought herself up to be strong, competing against men for all the survivors and little girls out there...great stuff. Funny how we're just talking about feminism, this is a feminist gimmick if I've ever seen one. Son of Havoc looks vaguely familiar but I can't place him. So again, speaking of feminist issues and inter-gender wrestling...this was inter-gender wrestling done perfectly well. Havoc as the heel underestimates her to his peril, she gets her offense in using her speed and lucha moves, but he catches her with a power move and it's over. I'd forgotten how sweetly Sexy Star hits her shit. This made me super keen to see Sexy Star work again and try to win a match, so this was well done. Dario Cueto trolling Chavo about losing is me. He said something about "a thousand deaths", and although I butcher it constantly, I know enough Spanish to know that Mil Muertes is coming~! I had totally forgotten that Mundo took all that time off wrestling after leaving WWE. Three whole years. Full credit to him because he looks like he hasn't aged a day and wrestles like he hasn't aged a day. And Puma wrestles like...Ricochet in a mask. But I like the strong push for him. I actually liked Mundo vs Puma a lot, even more than I did the first time. This needed to be a showcase, and they nailed it in every sense. Showing off Puma's athleticism, showing off Mundo's athleticism, and incorporating the unique layout of the Temple by doing stuff with the staircase, at the announcers desk, etc. And all the while still working a match that built logically and was filled with hard-hitting and exciting work. This ticked all the boxes and was a super fun time. Exactly what they needed for the first episode. And then the SWERVE~! Budget Homicide, Budget Low Ki and BIG ZEKE invade and beat up the faces for Dario Cueto. Going full blown heel didn't take long. This is a great debut episode, getting over the "feel" of the show, introducing storylines and showcasing key players without giving away the store. I am eager to dive in from here.

You should. Feed the soul. I don't begrudge you your silly little Ted matches mate.

Similarly, I was always impressed with how smoothly footy players or footballers could slide along the ground when they dived or made tackles or whatever, but then I went to some football match and saw them watering the ground with sprinklers before the game.