Bierschwale

There's a certain value in Owens's look making him even more of a scumbag, except that he isn't enough of a "My family needs me!" huckster asshole for it to really connect.

Is a lack of quality "true" feuds an answer to why it's shifted from matches to wrestlers? "Flair vs. Steamboat" is still greater as a whole than the sum of the parts. I personally prefer ranking matches because there's less "consequence" for lack of a better word if a match doesn't reach the spot that I feel that it should than with a wrestler who ends up five slots high or low, for example. Also... it's just easier. Easier doesn't make for better discussion. The optimal measurement is some kind of "run" basis. What someone did in two consecutive calendar years, or whatever, or just a single year in general. Unless your point is that that still leads to cherrypicking. But I've been thinking about this. "Who's been the 52-week RAW MVP for every year that it's been on?" is a more interesting topic than "here's five Tenryu matches from throughout his career, rank/rate them".

The problem with the fans wanting Seth Rogen and not Clark Gable is that Clark Gable vs. Sydney Greenstreet or Peter Lorre is a lot easier to book and sell than Seth Rogen vs. ...women, or maturity, or Gary Cole.

Well, it's variety because he could have the exact same idiotic match with so many different wrestlers.

I was thinking about Goldberg a few days ago, the DDP match specifically, but in general. We're basing almost everything that he did on under three years of experience. You shouldn't get a bonus for potential, but in terms of being adept, how many Japanese/NA workers can say that they were as impressive as an actual worker in three years? How many had a match as strong as that DDP match 18 months in?

The TV is easier if you just take the lazy-ish way out and only write angles, though I do need more clear detail. I feel like that people here can guess what Terry Funk or Rick Rude would say given the scenarios that I've put them in.

I like The New Day's act, though less than others, but they're my least-favorite working tag champs in years, throwing out the NAO.

9/8/91 AIW Uncontrollable Urge UIC Pavilion Chicago, IL D) Frank Andersson & Naoki Sano vs. Luc Poirier & Minoru Suzuki ends in a time-limit draw (10:00) D) Bull Pain defeats Barry Houston via pinfall after an Argentine backbreaker (5:12) 1) Eddie Gilbert, Hector Guerrero, & Dean Malenko defeat Doug Gilbert, Chavo Guerrero, & Joe Malenko in a "brotherly hate" wild card six-man tag team match via pinfall by Eddie Gilbert on Joe Malenko after a Gilbert DDT following a second-rope senton bomb by Hector Guerrero (13:39) 2) Apocalypse & Destruction defeat Fatu & Samu via DQ after the SDS attacked the Blackhearts with steel chairs. Both Samoan Death Squad members were visibly much more angry than normal, even speaking clearly and loudly, punctuated by Fatu screaming "WE'RE NOT FUCKING TRYING GUYS OUT FOR YOU", as this had been planned as an AIW tryout match for the Blackhearts, and the Samoans were upset with being reduced to this role (2:41) 3) Bob Holly defeats Norman Smiley via pinfall after an Alabama Slam; after the match, Smiley shook Holly's hand and said that he was planning on upping his game, beginning with The Unheard Music (6:10) 4) Blue Panther, Negro Navarro, Pierroth, Villano IV, & Villano V vs. Kato Kung Lee, Misterioso, Rey Misterio, Super Astro, & Volador in a 2/3 falls match ends in a time-limit draw, with the teams tied at one fall a piece (20:00) 5) The Lightning Kid & Jerry Lynn defeat Chris Chavis & Brian Christopher via pinfall by Lynn on Christopher after a guillotine leg drop (6:03) 6) Steve Williams was the winner of the torneo cibernetico to become #1 contender to the AIW Heavyweight Championship; Jeff Jarrett was eliminated by Yoshiaki Fujiwara via submission after a Fujiwara armbar (8:15), Buddy Landel was eliminated by Fujiwara after a Fujiwara armbar (13:28), Terry Funk was eliminated by The Great Kokina via pinfall after a second-rope splash (18:01), Bob Backlund was eliminated by Big Van Vader via pinfall after a top-rope splash (18:58), Chris Benoit was eliminated by Gordy via countout after a piledriver on the floor (20:00), Bam Bam Bigelow was eliminated by Vader via pinfall after a powerbomb (24:51), Fujiwara was eliminated via DQ after he attacked a referee who attempted to stop him from competing due to excessive blood loss from his forehead after having delivered several strong headbutts during the course of the match (27:00), Gordy was eliminated via DQ after attacking Fujiwara (27:10), Kokina was eliminated by Vader via pinfall after a moonsault (30:45), Vader was eliminated via pinfall after a lariat by Stan Hansen (32:19), Hansen was eliminated after consecutive lariats by Steve Williams (38:42) (38:42) 7) Lord Steven Regal & Squire David Taylor defeat Danny Boy Collins & Fit Finlay and Doug Furnas & Dan Kroffat in a triangle elimination match to become #1 contenders to the AIW Tag Team Championship; Furnas & Kroffat were eliminated after Kroffat was pinned by Finlay, after the four wrestlers of British extraction seemed to declare them interlopers in what was their fight, with Regal & Taylor isolating Furnas as Finlay and Collins hit a brainbuster/standing moonsault combination (3:55), Collins & Finlay were eliminated after Collins was pinned by Taylor after Regal and Taylor hit a running knee/dragon suplex combination (12:31) (12:31) 8) Victor Zangiev defeats Takayuki Iizuka and Wayne Shamrock in a triangle elimination match; Shamrock was eliminated via DQ after Iizuka pushed him into the referee (2:55), and Iizuka was eliminated after Zangiev refused to allow Iizuka to forfeit the match for him, at which point Iizuka hit the referee himself (3:28). Zangiev yelled at him about his cowardice and Iizuka snapped, felling Zangiev with a roundhouse kick, which let Boris Zhukov make his presence felt once again as he then joined Iizuka in attacking Zangiev; Shamrock, who was being escorted to the back while this happened, broke free from AIW security and ran after Zhukov, unintentionally defending Zangiev. Shamrock and Zangiev finally rid the ring of Iizuka and Zhukov after dueling German suplexes, and then shared an intense staredown in which they seemed to exchange some respect (3:28) 9) Eddie Guerrero & Owen Hart defeat Paul Orndorff & John Tatum in a 2/3 falls match to retain the AIW Tag Team Championship; Guerrero & Hart won the first fall via pinfall by Hart on Orndorff after Tatum hit Orndorff with an errant California Kick (7:32), Guerrero & Hart won the second fall via DQ after a frustrated Tatum hit Guerrero with a low blow (8:05), with he and an equally-frustrated Orndorff embarking on a beatdown of the championship duo until Bob Holly ran out to clear the ring 10) Ric Flair vs. Rick Rude in a 2/3 falls lumberjack match ends in a time-limit draw. Flair won the first fall after Rude was DQed for punching referee Adrian Street (8:27), as the Championship Committee and Gold Club associates (such as the Blue Bloods & Scott Anthony) brawled amidst the chaos, Rude look a crowbar from John Tatum and hit Flair with it, busting him open in the process. Rude won the second fall after a backbreaker hold. Rude had spent the second fall attacking Flair's infamously injured back, including a variety of backbreaker slams and a back body drop on the floor that came with "inadvertent" assistance on the part of lumberjack Paul Orndorff (27:52), the third fall was more of Rude attacking Flair's back, but Flair was better prepared for it and fought from underneath to keep Rude off-balance. The back strategy seemed to work as when Flair for the first time in the match attempted a figure-4 leglock, he couldn't keep his balance because of the pain to his back and Rude was able to escape and take back control. With under a minute left in the match, Flair finally successfully applied a figure-4, putting Rude in a grave scenario. But Flair still couldn't keep full control of the hold, and fell back. As Adrian Street began a pin count against Flair, Rude made a motion as though he wanted to submit. Before Street reached three, though, it was all academic as time had finally expired. The Gold Club ran into the ring, grabbed Rude's title belt, and dragged him to the back as quickly as they could. Flair thanked the AIW Championship Committee and said that AIW was going to be a great promotion some day, if it wasn't already. (45:00).

Feel like that last night was a new low for Steve Corino commentary excluding any event with a low blow.

The actual Martin Shkreli isn't fun, in the sense that he's just that terrible of a person. The celebrity-obsessed living caricature, though? That's a fantastic heel gimmick. All of this King of Kong talk forces me to bring up Troy Duffy as a phenomenal heel protagonist in a documentary (Overnight). Political figures are too easy and also un-PWO generally, but Robert Moses was simply on another level. His true greatest crime isn't running the Brooklyn Dodgers out of town, it's creating a cottage industry of endless nostalgia and whining (whining tinged by classism and racism at that) over the Dodgers having been run out of town for 60 years now!

I'd agree. It definitely ran just a few minutes too long and those few minutes didn't seem to fit the seeming story of the match, which I thought would have been Hojo getting the draw.

Yeah, I totally love Bret. I find his matches hypnotic. And his crazy old weirdo crank gimmick in retirement is fantastic.

I always think of "greatest vs. best" as longevity vs. peak. Which this is, in a way. A discreet action of Armstrong's is better than the same discreet action of Michaels. But his whole/longevity beats Armstrong's moment/peak. Great elaboration.

Forget the other parts of the Ogawa EPIC, just Hash taking off the hachimaki before their first match is an amazing "things done changed" moment.

Who will get the rub of ending Brock's 3 year streak of not being pinned or submitting? It almost seems like a safe bet to say that it'll be nobody, since Trips was the last one.

I know that I've watched more than one Parka II match in my life, but really it only ever seems like the ParK-Parka showdown from TripleMania. which is an awesome match during ParK's glory tour. God, what if there had been a Glory Tour ParK-Retirement Tour Togo match? Holy shit. I'm beating the drum for Kodaka-Takeshita, have you watched it?

I mean... "butch" isn't the entire answer. Her lack of an obvious look is more important and reinforces her "butchness".

8/21/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 9/7/91) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL X) Backstage, AIW Championship Committee Chairman Nick Bockwinkel stands by a monitor along with new-to-AIW hire Boni Blackstone, with the intent of announcing the field for the 12-man torneo cibernetico to determine a #1 contender for the AIW Heavyweight Championship. Any wrestlers to have recorded a fall in AIW over Rick Rude since he became champion are entered, making Chris Benoit, The Great Kokina, and Steve Williams the first three entrants. Anyone to have been recognized as a "World Heavyweight Champion" to wrestle for AIW in the last 30 days would also be eligible, guaranteeing Bob Backlund, Terry Funk, Terry Gordy the fourth, fifth, and sixth entries. Selected promotions with which AIW had a working relationship such as All Japan Pro Wrestling, the Catch Wrestling Association, and Fujiwara Gumi Pro Wrestling, would be allowed to select representatives; respectively, they would be Stan Hansen, Big Van Vader, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. The final three entries would be filled by a six-man tag team match where the six men would be drawn randomly onto their teams. AIW Commissioner Adrian Street joined him to announce two other matches to fill a triangle elimination match at Uncontrollable Urge to nominate AIW Tag Team Championship #1 contenders, saying that Rick Rude's request to have Paul Orndorff & John Tatum be named #1 contenders had been fulfilled. The Malenko Brothers would face Danny Boy Collins & Fit Finlay and the "Blue Bloods", Lord Steven Regal & Dave Taylor, would face The Fantastics, with the winners joining the Can-Am Express in the Urge match. 1) Paul Orndorff (w/ John Tatum) defeats Chavo Guerrero via pinfall after a piledriver; after the match, Tatum entered the ring so Orndorff could set Guerrero up with a California Kick, but Eddie Guerrero & Owen Hart made the save before Tatum could connect. The Gold Clubbers scrambled out of the ring and yelled towards the Guerreros & Hart that they were just chumps (6:15) 2) Danny Boy Collins & Fit Finlay defeat Dean Malenko & Joe Malenko via pinfall on Joe Malenko by Collins after a sitout vertical suplex (10:26) 3) Lord Steven Regal & Dave Taylor defeat Bobby Fulton & Tommy Rogers via submission after Regal hit Fulton in the back of the neck with a running knee strike and then applied a cravate lock (7:29) 4) Bam Bam Bigelow, Jeff Jarrett, & Buddy Landel defeat Eddie Gilbert, Bob Holly, & Wayne Shamrock to become the 10th, 11th, and 12th entrants into the cibernetico via pinfall on Holly by Jarrett after a simultaneous mule kick/DDT combination by Landel & Jarrett respectively (13:34)

Absolutely.

I pretty much refuse to ever watch this match again. I've rewatched NoC, that match IS very good, though the pacing falls apart when they start waiting for the Rollins DQ spot. But I have nothing close to fondness for this one.

My problem with this is that Lesnar should interfere and attack Trips and get Ambrose the title so that their match is the one for the belt (and it would be an outstanding jobnotjob by HHH). Except that that ruins a perfectly awesome-sounding Ambrose-Lesnar Mania match by involving fucking Triple H.

I'm a big fan of the ECW title match against Christian from Breaking Point '09 (9/13).

This has good steam behind it so I was figuring the same. And it is bizarre that Carl Contini/Greco/Malenko never had a real run in the US, even if his peak was the late '90s, unless he was just a Johnny Ace/Richard Slinger-type who was happy to be a green card gaijin (I have no idea what the Japanese equivalent of a green card is, it's just fun alliteration). Also, I'm with Woof in that unless you NEED Konnan because he's the biggest star in the country or he's a primary talent intermediary, you never need Konnan. If you made that a triple act, off of the top of my head, better guys would be someone like TAKA or a super-young Nigel or maybe PCO who was terribly misused in RL TNA as the token big dude in the X Div. They couldn't come up with a better name for him than friggin' "X"? Though if you DID make it a triple act and wanted someone Hispanic, I know who is exactly perfect. You haven't debuted him and he's great in either a Freebird role or as their X Division guy, and might have been the most insanely charismatic person in wrestling at the time.

8/21/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 8/24/91) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL X) The Gold Club come out to the ring, with Rick Rude still resplendent as AIW Heavyweight Champion, but the other four members, particularly The Lightning Kid & Jerry Lynn, bearing the emotional wounds of their losses at Raw Power. Rude's confidence is overwhelming, and he says that he has two announcements for Adrian Street. The first is that while he knows that the Kid & Lynn, as the losing finalists in the tag team title tournament, would be the natural #1 contenders, that he has to look out for The Gold Club first and foremost, and states that the other two Club members, Paul Orndorff & John Tatum, will take the match instead, because of their advantages in size and veteran experience over the dejected-but-reserved "Golden Boys". The second announcement is that he does not intend to defend his championship at Uncontrollable Urge in two weeks, because there's not enough competition. He's defeated "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, The Great Kokina, Chris Benoit, Bob Holly, Wayne Shamrock, even his stablemates in the Kid & Orndorff. Nobody else has earned the right to challenge him. Commissioner Street comes out and tells Rude that he expected this from his champion, and that he's technically accurate about not needing to make a defense; he has until September 16, and that Rude had the option of waiting until the 15th to defend his title, with Street announcing The Unheard Music, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day, but that Rude WOULD have a challenger for Uncontrollable Urge, and that he'd let him know who it'd be at the end of next week's show. 1) Blue Panther & Negro Navarro defeat Misterioso & Volador via submission after Navarro applied an Espectrina to Volador (13:18) 2) Fit Finlay defeats Chris Candido via pinfall after a piledriver (4:23) X) Cactus Jack comes out to the ring, rolling out a large wheelbarrow with him, screaming for the house microphone, and declaring that he's going to need to be carried out of the ring in that wheelbarrow before he actually "leaves town", regardless of the result of his match with Bigelow. He challenges Commissioner Street to bring out his best goon to try to break him, but before he can finish his sentence, someone emerges on the entrance ramp... and of all people, it's Victor Zangiev. 4) Victor Zangiev defeats Cactus Jack via TKO after hitting three consecutive Saito suplexes and applying a cross-armbreaker, to which a bloodied Jack could not respond; the AIW medical staff attended to Jack as Zangiev stalked around the ring with a dead-eyed stare. He threw Cactus Jack's wheelbarrow back onto the entrance ramp with one hand and then quietly walked towards the medical staff performing aid on Jack, and they all slowly walked away before Zangiev could speak a word. Zangiev proceeded to pick Jack up and hit him with a belly-to-belly suplex, throwing him into the ropes, before his true coup de grace, a bodyslam into the center of the wheelbarrow. Zangiev said what was apparently the Ossetic equivalent of "farewell" before running the wheelbarrow off of the ramp and straight to the concrete floor, the final image of the night being Zangiev silently walking past Jack's carcass. (6:47) 8/21/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 8/31/91) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL 1) Villano IV & Villano V defeat Fuerza Guerrera & Pierroth via pinfall by Villano V to Pierroth after a springboard crossbody (10:03) 2) John Tatum defeats Bob Holly via pinfall after an unseen low blow and California Kick combination (6:12) 3) Eddie Guerrero defeats Brian Christopher via pinfall after a superplex (6:36) 4) Steve Williams defeats Scott Anthony via pinfall after an Oklahoma Stampede (3:56) 5) Bob Backlund, Doug Gilbert, & Eddie Gilbert defeat Terry Funk, Terry Gordy, & Jeff Jarrett via submission after Backlund applied a chickenwing crossface to Jarrett; after the match, all three remaining Cartel members seemed somewhat lost and detached from each other, still suffering after the banishment of Cactus Jack, and walked to the back by themselves (9:57) X) AIW Commissioner Adrian Street, along with the other six esteemed members of the before-unseen AIW Championship Committee; Nick Bockwinkel, Ernie Ladd, Wahoo McDaniel, Billy Robinson, Ricky Romero, and Ray Stevens, walked to the ring. Nick Bockwinkel announced a huge match for Uncontrollable Urge; a torneo cibernetico for #1 contendership to the AIW Heavyweight Championship, featuring the "best of the best that our company can offer". They then invited "Ravishing" Rick Rude to the ring to find out who his opponent at Uncontrollable Urge would be. He unsurprisingly came out with his four Gold Club lieutenants, The Lightning Kid, Jerry Lynn, Paul Orndorff, and John Tatum. The two youngest men seemed to appreciate the gravity of the moment while Orndorff and Rude just seemed to enjoy cracking off jokes at the expense of the Committee. Tatum seemed eager to join in, but in a rare moment of clarity, quickly realized that none of his stories about the Committee members were particularly interesting and just stood guard beside Rude. As Street started to speak, Rude immediately asked him to cut to the chase and tell him which chump would be up next for him to take down. Street told him to just listen to the music... as that so infamous stanza of Thus Spake Zarathustra soared throughout the WGN studios as Ric Flair walked out to the ring and shook hands with every Committee member. Flair spoke about having left WCW and while he wouldn't say exactly what his future plans were, at that moment in time, there was nothing in the world that he found more appealing than taking a World title away from a "wannabe" like Rude. As Rude began to respond, he was cut off by Commissioner Street, who said that he had two other surprises, both of which were right in front of his eyes. The first being that "while they might be a little bit older", the six other Committee members would all be at ringside because they were "no less as fighters at heart", and they wished to exercise full control over the match and neutralize the Gold Club, effectively making it a lumberjack match. The second being that, while he believed that all AIW referees were skilled and capable, he needed a referee who would have full awareness of the ring and no tolerance for intimidation tactics... and that he would be that guest referee.

Fury is way better than Daniels at "desperate veteran asshole". Or Whitmer.