Bierschwale

Is Hechicero's comeback "earned" or whatever? Like, does it feel as meaningful as it should, does he sell it as well as he should? Because I actually love it as it is. He's just THAT spooled up on adrenaline and a desire to not lose. I love the idea of him really just RUSHING instead of shaking his way back in from a stretcher job. That's Lesnar-like in a way.

I love Perkins as Stan Lane 2016. I don't like Sabre as much as others-- my favorite singles match of his is the Dick Togo match from 2011 from Germany, since that's a contrast battle. I like the emphasis on contrast with him. Really not a guy that I like as an ace, though, either. I'm calling for a Punisher Martinez vs. Sabre match is what I might be saying.

I think that MITB 2011 might be the only better true "PPV main event and angle" match of the decade. Parka's sell of the Martinete is so decisive that it sustains all of the bullshit with Par-K and the Penas, which is glorious. What a bastard that he is. The intro of the PdM theme is titanic.

A couple of things, but I think that it's too much for a homage name, like they have to be a canine that could beat a bulldog in a fight because... Final Battle GIF. They were the "American Pitbulls" for the NXT tryout in 2013 and that was decent enough. "American Airedales" would be a great name. "Italian Greyhounds". "Irish Wolfhounds". Definitely has to have multiple syllables in the dog part.

Orient Express is forever #1. I'm big on Express and British Bulldogs ripofffs, unless they're corny like Edwards/Richards. Alliterative names rarely fail.

Right now there's like a 50/50 shot that Dick Togo emerges from the heart of darkness for this.

The JBL? For what it's worth that match got squished after Angle/Shawn went long and they ended up with the 10 minutes or so they got, which lead to Cena's super short comeback and win. I thought that it was a very good match, His comeback is great, I'm just imagining the modern response and all of the "he never sells" bullshit getting thrown at it. I can't help but watch for Cena's "flaws" when I watch older stuff and... they just aren't there, generally. I love Cena. He's in my top five heavyweight "dream match wrestlers". I will submit, and Cena is top 30 on my instinct and probably higher in reality. Top ten for US-born without question.

When I was getting my English degree I was taught the ideas of charlatans like Freud and Lacan as if they were still considered respectable theories and that was it as far what I learned about psychology/neuroscience and how it influences stories. Lacan might have been a fun midcard heel with the "R-S-I" gimmick. Him constantly coming up new bullshit acronyms that when pronounced make words that are supposed to be really deep but are of course just nonsense. Use him sort of like an intentionally goofier Raven.

Nate Diaz with the promo of the year?

Doubled.

I watched his first title win last night. If anyone but a WWE debutante had pulled off his comeback, it'd be called "fighting spirit at its purest".

WCW would be from '01, right? So that's an extra year to introduce the same TNA talent pool, you get the contracts, and Fusient SHOULD have better resources than HealthSouth & Panda. But that's a lot of baggage. Also, the knock-on effect for NJPW (assuming that an affiliation were to continue) if you booked shoots which obviously by definition will have worked outcomes is pretty hilarious. Sign all of the American pro/shoot combo guys and have them go over Fujita and Yasuda. Maybe Tenzan actually gets to have a good title run. Screw Okada, you're the Shin Nihon savior!

And after an all-time great babyface debut! "Through the Wire" is probably my favorite song of the 2000s.

I'd be willing to bet on Matt Hardy, though not as an ultra-tier universal face, but one who would get it all done. Could do anything you asked of him in the ring, really isn't small, quality promo, will work anywhere on the card.

Dragon-Kama has a very consistent psychology running through it, it's just not exactly a Go match. It's literally a snake vs. a mongoose. Or, more accurately, a dragon vs. a weasel demon who wears blades on his outfits like a fighting cock. It's "I will kill myself to make sure that you die". It's all just about move introductions and finding counters to those moves and so on. It's more Lucha Underground than any real LU feud ever.

The orchestration of it was what was the real shitshow, though. And it led to the US GP that year having Schumacher reverse the favor for Rubens. The Young Bucks couldn't even pull a move that business-exposing. Bernie Ecclestone is a heel amongst heels, of course. I'm not going to pretend that I know what Max Mosley's deal really is, he's a tragic figure of upper-class twittery, but Ecclestone, man. I can't think of too many ethnic Jews who've found a way to compliment Adolf Hitler & Saddam Hussein in one interview. Tangential and then tangentially tangential: Real Life Heel Avery Brundage bringing up the Rhodesia ban from the '72 Olympics in his eulogy to the victims of the Black September massacare. He has all kinds of fascist garbage to use, but it doesn't get much tougher to stomach than that. Which brings us to the great One Day in September and the truly obscene Ulrich Wegener just yucking it up during his interview segments about the failure of the final rescue attempt at the air base. No self-awareness at all.

I like those three a lot more myself. Herbert's first win for Benetton & his win for Stewart are two of the best moments of the decade.

Prost was a more universal driver and I think that he and Senna were more yin/yang than face/heel. I mean, one of the biggest criticisms of Prost's was that he didn't like racing in the rain, which is like disliking someone for not wanting to work violent gimmick matches Mansell & Piquet were obvious heels, though. Mansell was a Shawn Michaels-level overseller. I don't buy there being a heel in Pironi-Villeneuve, either, because Gilles had too much conviction to be the heel and no way that it's actually Didier, who would have been an icon amongst icons for the tifosi had he not gotten hurt. Hamilton's a heel, but he's wonderful. Vettel's a heel, and a horsefaced little shit. Kubica is the babyface that the F1 grid has needed.

It's really sad the main roster is so bad at booking that some people would rather stay in developmental then be called up. Imagine someone wanting to stay in the AHL over the NHL. That's insanity. I am CERTAIN that someone wanted to be a Chicago Wolf and not a Chicago Blackhawk during the Wirtz years. It'd be impossible for that to have not happened.

The two cheap answers: 1) More traditionalism-driven revivals of styles. I mean, I'm not going to call Karissma-Zoom Driver matches the shining path forward, but they're trying. 2) More new influences. Does pro wrestling need wushu exhibitions? Probably not, but why shouldn't we find out?

I'm not sure that I'm capable of talking about that Minowa match enough. It is a masterful performance.

If an NXT product succeeds, Hunter's a genius. If an NXT product fails, Vince ruins everything again.

RAW in '04 certainly had its fair share of moments. The Benoit/Edge tag title win in Calgary the night after Backlash has absurd heat and is a pretty damned good match at that.