Jimmy Redman

In short, yes, partly it's because I think he's had great matches. The Mania matches with Shawn and Hunter go a long way with me, I think they are amazing and some of the highest levels that storytelling in wrestling can reach. I know mileage may vary with those matches, particularly around here, so just know right off the bat that we're probably coming at this from two very different places. For me it's a great match and a talent thing. The best matches include: vs Shawn (HIAC) vs Mankind (HIAC) vs Jeff Hardy (Ladder) - Raw 2002 vs Angle vs Rock - Vengeance 2002 vs Brock (HIAC) - No Mercy 2002, Summerslam 2015 vs Orton - WM21 vs Angle - NWO 2006 vs Batista - WM23, Backlash, SD May, Cyber Sunday & Survivor Series 2007 vs Edge - WM24, Summerslam 2008 vs Show - No Mercy 2008 vs Shawn - WM25, WM26 vs Hunter - WM27, WM28 vs Punk - WM29 There are also scores of great TV matches with Angle, Brock, Cena, Orton, Henry, Show, Finlay, Jeff, Hunter, Festus, Rey, Shelton, DX, Jericho, Punk, The Shield...Jesus, you know I didn't realise just how many there were until I started typing. You don't really think of Undertaker as a TV worker, but he worked a decent schedule up until about 2010 and was around more than you'd think. He's got some heft there. And I mean I can only speak to about 2002 onwards. There's a lot that I remember liking from the late 90s but it's been years since I've seen them - vs Austin, Kane, Mankind, etc. I should really look into that period. Taker has an aura about him that few can match. He's been given opportunities, but the flipside to that is that you have to wrestle up to that level to justify it. Taker does that. He carries himself with such...presence, and that in itself is special when you consider how hokey and ridiculous he is on paper - an undead zombie undertaker who is also a biker and knows MMA. It's not something that should come off as legit as it does, which is a credit to how he plays it, how he's always played it. He projects the air of a badass, someone who will just beat your ass if you piss him off, and his "Oh damn son you just pissed off the wrong motherfucker!" look is golden. And yet at the same time, he's willing to give to his opponent when needed, to create that drama. He will beat the shit out of a Jeff Hardy, but also eat Jeff's shots and give him enough to where an upset looks credible. When he's in there with another hoss he has to get over he will bump and sell his ass off for them. He can do overwrought WWE epic, brawl with anyone, work big vs little guys, go hoss vs hoss, play his role in a big match, work a TV semi-main. He's one of those guys who is so great at just standing on the apron in a tag match - that sounds like a such a minor thing, but I always notice it when I see it because it's a sign of a guy being "on" all the time and being able to project himself and sell even when he's in a secondary role. He's a great hot tag too. Taker never gets enough credit for how good a seller he is. I think he's outstanding, one of the very best in the company at it when active. He will eat offense, he's great at selling accumulated damage and exhaustion, and is especially great at selling facially - he comes in as the stone-faced zombie, but during a match you can clearly see his emotions all over his face, from "Oh damn son you just pissed off the wrong motherfucker!" to "Jesus this hurts!" to "Why can't I beat this fucker??" He gets over so much from the look on his face. He has good stuff with scrubs too. His bloodbath with Vince is great. He had one of Khali's very best matches, and this was in 2006, when Khali sucked so bad that WWE was too scared to put him on a live PPV. He's had ridiculously fun hoss matches with rando SD guys like Festus and Khali. Again, he has such an aura that the act of going toe-to-toe with someone like Festus puts him over. I don't give a shit about his locker room leadership or any other non-wrestling excuse you can come up with to explain away someone liking a wrestler that you don't. I'm curious to know if you've seen any latter-day Taker outside of Wrestlemania matches. Particularly the period of 2007-2010. He was really very good in those years.

Oh damn. I just remembered the doomed Super Liger thing, so I figured that was with NJ. My point was IRL he clearly isn't down on puro and is working an angle.

Big yes. I'll probably be his high voter, in fact, since he's looking at my Top 30 or so at this point.

NO. No no no no no. Just no. I enjoyed the surprise as much as the next guy, but Shane is terrible. He's created some highlights from destroying his body with reckless abandon (vs Angle, vs Kane), but other than that has been not only lame, but an actively stupid and offensive worker. Beating Kurt Angle and Lashley in amateur wrestling battles, fighting toe-to-toe with the Monster Kane...he has no idea how to work to the character of the spoiled, untrained boss' son, and the shit that he does is truly awful. He's also not that good a promo, or character. Steph smokes him as a performer even though she too has inherited an inability to show vulnerability. I honestly think he's one of the very worst guys to have worked for the company in the 21st century.

It's the pop that you get for being a notable name who's been completely AWOL from the company for years and years. Shane was goneski and nobody thought that he'd be coming back to TV. It's that wow factor. He's not going to be that over next week. It's not the same thing, but Rock's pop when he returned in 2011 was maybe the craziest sustained pop anyone has never got, and it was because The Rock hadn't set foot in the ring since 2004. His pops have diminished since to "normal" megastar levels, because he's now a guy who is around, not a guy who OMG HE'S FUCKING BACK I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! It's been interesting tonight, but I feel like once the shock wears off we're all going to realise that it's, well...Shane McMahon.

Funny how much better AJ looks when he gets to actually hit his spots instead of having them all countered in the interests of a "great match". Also when he gets to hit them on someone who can take them.

I hear that argument against Brock, but at the same time I just don't care. It's a perfectly logical argument on paper, and I can't argue with that but in reality it's just...wrong, because to me Brock loses nothing working like this and every time he's in a match it's still a special event, and any time he throws a million suplexes it's still awesome. If it was anyone else working like this, I'd agree, but Brock is so special and so overwhelmingly good at being Brock that it throws all logical arguments out the window. It's kind of like how Taker was a mythological being who can kick out of a million finishers...at Wrestlemania. Once a year he turned into a god for a night, able to withstand any death move, and it makes no logical Matt D sense on paper if you try to break down kicking out of a million finishers a match, or try to find linear escalation in matches that basically begin with finishers and go from there, but it made perfect pro wrestling sense in reality. This is where Matt and I fall down. Fastlane was a good reminder for me as to why I'll be ranking Brock as high as I am. He's just something very, very special. One of the most infinitely watchable wrestlers in history. WWE announcers talk about Orton being the "prototypical wrestler" all the time, but Brock is really the guy that you'd build in a lab if you could. He's so big, built like a tank, crazy strong, great wrestling skill, brutal as fuck, athletic, can bump like a cruiser, incredible seller, and has this undeniable presence about him.

Also, Roman's brother Dean gets killed by a car and he's nonchalantly checking Twitter for updates and casually discussing things with Jojo. Just like any time he's been majorly screwed by the Authority, his response has been much the same - get interviewed in the hallway and calmly have a conversation with Jojo. Roman's soft-spoken, stone-faced character is lame as fuck, is what I'm saying. He never shows any emotion, particularly at times when he should be showing the emotion of EXTREMELY PISSED OFF MOTHERFUCKER. He just calmly talks in a really low voice. Why should I care if he doesn't seem to?

If I had any hope that they'd retire The Authority for good - or at least a few years - I'd be excited at the prospect. But even if Shane wins and we get a babyface GM for a while, it will be a short-term thing at best. The McMahons can't keep themselves off TV.

I would much prefer Linda. Love Linda. Oh and by the by, that moment when Shane said "generational..." and froze because he had no idea how to finish that sentence and Vince had to rescue him? That would doom a random roster guy to a lifetime of Superstars jobbing if they choked that hard in front of Vince.

Nothing like a bit of feuding McMahons to get the company out of a hole. It was an entertaining one-off segment, but Holy Shit. All of the time and energy spent building up the Streak, and now Undertaker has to sell for and possibly lose to Shane fucking McMahon at Wrestlemania. Just wow.

One thing I will say is that he's not been very good in the 2010s at "putting people over". The AJ match yesterday was frustrating for me to watch, not because of any botches, but because of the story of the match. Jericho took SO MUCH of this match it was ridiculous. He had an answer for everything AJ did, he countered all of AJ's signature spots and big dives, kicked out of his finisher, and then lost. AJ didn't really have a chance to show anything because Jericho cut him off at every turn. And I get the idea of Jericho having counters as the wily veteran character, but it was way too much and AJ never really got any shine. For a guy you're trying to bring in straight away as a big deal from outside, it's not the way to do it, because anyone who isn't familiar with AJ isn't going to see what the fuss is about if he can't show off his stuff in the ring. Same deal with the Fandango match at Mania. Jericho took that entire match and made it very, very clear he was trying to lead a broomstick around the ring, instead of working the match in a way to actually put the guy over. I understand now that Jericho was unhappy about the match and so threw a bit of a tantrum, and it's just...not a good look.

Well...OK.

Oh just the thing in the Fastlane thread talking about how rubes think Cena "buried" Brock by winning at ER.

Every time Hunter tries to sneak up a place on my ballot I think to myself "That stupid ass motherfucker had shitty matches with THIS Brock Lesnar" and it stops him dead in his tracks.

Jericho fucking worked for New Japan, he had basically the same career path as a guy like AJ, he knows how it is to build your reputation elsewhere and come into WWE and get it beaten out of you. It's the same stuff he's doing on TV, treating AJ Styles like a 20 year old kid, downplaying his accomplishments and acting like a bigger star than he is. It's all clearly a work and he'll turn heel at the end of it. I know I don't have to explain this to you, but between this and the "Cena buried Brock" in the other thread, I'm suddenly very frustrated that there are people out there so...dumb.

I remember having like a week long argument with someone after Summerslam 2012, because he was saying how selfless Hunter was in putting Brock over, while Cena buried him. There's a really scary level of willfully ignoring everything that goes on in a match apart from the result to come to that conclusion.

He's clearly working, come on now.

I honestly don't think it's going to be that big a thing. I know it's 2016 and women's issues are a hot button, but Godfather doesn't strike me as a big enough star to get anyone's attention in the media, nor does a wrestling pimp character seem like that big a deal either. I don't think people expect anything more from wrestling, really, especially late 90s wrestling.

Brock showed way more vulnerability in the Hunter feud than the Cena match. That's the exact reason why the Hunter feud was so hideous, Hunter was beating on him and working even Stevens with him like he was any other guy. Brock also sold a fair bit for Punk too. I actually think it's been since the Taker win that he's not been bumping or selling much.

Because it's not 1996 and he doesn't have to do these things to protect his spot? He's part of the McMahon family and the corporate structure of the company. Holding people down now only hurts his kids' inheritance. I'm an 'incompetence, not conspiracy' kind of girl. They just really are that dumb, as has been shown by basically...almost everything in the last decade or so, and particularly the last few years. They think they're pushing Roman, it isn't working, and they don't know how to fix it.

Cena did a similar thing to Bryan in their match. The Frankensteiner counter off the top is risky business.

I agree with that, and I'd also throw Punk into the same group. If I ever find the words I'll write something on the subject.

Funny, in an entire match full of tributes, it was probably the most Bryan-like thing she's ever done.

Didn't realise they weren't nominated yet: Motor City Machine Guns. MCMG vs Generation Me (Empty Arena Match), TNA Reaction 18/11/10 Hadnt watched this since it happened. It is certainly...something. I think the coolest thing about it is that flippydo guys are so often derided for being loose or not believable or hurty enough. This is the answer to that. This match was borderline unsettling in its brutality. The close up filming and the lack of background/crowd noise made every blow, every move connect hard, it made every single shot ring out, and every single scream and groan was amplified. They were beating the sh*t out of each other, but they were also doing it with flips and springboards and movez, in a way that was totally hard-hitting and believable. Towards the end when the Guns tie Matt up, scream at him that he's going to die and kick his head off until he gives...this was some hardcore sh*t and it almost got creepy to watch in an 'I've accidentally clicked on some XXX Twink Rape porn video' way. But a tremendously brutal and unique match. I seem to really dig the Empty Arena concept. MCMG vs Generation Me (Full Metal Mayhem), TNA Final Resolution 2010 FMM was pretty fun in a completely co operative, contrived stuntfest kind of way. And I say that with love. Nick Jackson in particular looked good, and there was a bunch of cool spots up in this. Both teams are in their element when they have the freedom to go absolutely batsh*t insane with ridiculously complex highspots. I miss the Bucks. MCMG vs Beer Money (2/3 Falls), TNA Whole F'n Impact 2010 I got around to watching the final MCMG/Beer Money match, the 2/3 falls, and it was MOTHERF*CKING INSANE. Just incredible, from the build, the crowd (un-sh*tty for once), the first fall (mental), to the finish, every single thing was so freaking ON. I could have cried this was so awesome, my favourite TV match in forever.