Bierschwale

Yeah, I liked Chicago specifically because it has the lucha heritage and a really sizable Japanese population. I want to keep expansion fairly focused, like RoH in the mid-2000s, so before I can get to California, Chicago is a great city to do the "international" parts. I have a lot of ideas there beyond just Japan/Mexico. There's a nice stretch in the mid-'90s where I can do a good specific nation vs. nation feud, but if I could somehow make it to '01-'02, I'd have a dream feud version of it. One other reason that I chose the promotion name: if I theoretically became the NWA's hub promotion, the two names fit together. American InterNational Wrestling Alliance. Any bespoke titles could be re-branded as AI-NWA.

Yeah, I'm down, after I have what's what figured out.

Results for shows airing/happening live from May 18-June 15: 5/18/91 AIW New Day Rising Odeum Pavilion Villa Park, IL 1) Fatu & Samu defeat Buddy Landel & Stan Lane via pinfall after Famu/Samu hit a double diving headbutt on Landel (10:34) 2) The Lightning Kid defeats Jerry Lynn via pinfall after a guillotine leg drop (18:10) 3) The Great Kokina defeats Jimmy Backlund via pinfall after a Banzai Drop (5:43) 4) Villano IV & Villano V defeat Blue Panther & Negro Navarro via DQ after Panther hits V4 with a low blow (14:13) 5) Steve Williams defeats Boris Zhukov via pinfall after an Oklahoma Stampede (6:34) 6) Owen Hart defeats Chris Benoit via pinfall with a Victory Roll (19:47) 7) Bam Bam Bigelow vs. Cactus Jack ends in a double disqualification (10:51) 8) Bam Bam Bigelow & Eddie Gilbert vs. Cactus Jack & Terry Gordy ends in a double disqualification (6:12) 9) Rick Rude defeats Paul Orndorff by pinfall after a Rude Awakening (15:14) 5/22/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 5/25/91 on WGN) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL 1) The Great Kokina defeats Mike Richards via pinfall after a Banzai Drop (4:06) 2) Wayne Shamrock defeats Boris Zhukov via submission with an ankle lock (6:50) 3) Chavo Guerrero & Eddie Guerrero defeat Buddy Landel & Stan Lane via DQ after Lane hits Chavo with a tennis racket (9:42) 4) The Lightning Kid, Rick Rude, & Naoki Sano defeat Chris Benoit, Owen Hart, & Steve Williams via pinfall after a Rude Awakening/guillotine leg drop combination on Benoit (15:22) 5/22/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 6/1/91 on WGN) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL 1) Bam Bam Bigelow defeats Terry Gordy via pinfall after a diving headbutt and an Eddie Gilbert-delivered fireball (9:17) 2) Paul Orndorff defeats Jimmy Backlund via pinfall after a piledriver (5:06) 3) Blue Panther defeats Villano IV via DQ after Panther tricks the referee into believing that Villano had hit him with a low blow (13:31) 4) Eddie Gilbert defeats Cactus Jack via DQ after Jack piledrives Gilbert onto a steel chair, Bam Bam Bigelow attempts to make the save but is attacked from the crowd by Jeff Jarrett (5:58) 5/22/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 6/8/91 on WGN) West Bradley Place Chicago, IL 1) Chris Benoit, Eddie Guerrero, & Owen Hart vs. Buddy Landel, Stan Lane, & Naoki Sano ends in a time-limit draw (18:00) 2) Paul Orndorff, Wayne Shamrock, & Steve Williams defeat Fatu, The Great Kokina, & Samu and The Lightning Kid, Jerry Lynn, & Rick Rude in a triangle elimination match, Kokina pinned Lynn after a Banzai Drop at 13:34, and Williams pinned Samu after a power slam at 16:12 (16:12) 3) Terry Gordy & Jeff Jarrett defeat Bam Bam Bigelow & Eddie Gilbert after interference from Cactus Jack, hitting Gilbert with a chair, allowing Gordy to get the pinfall, Doug Gilbert runs into the ring and throws a fireball at Jack before receiving a DDT from Jarrett as Bigelow and Gordy brawl in the crowd (3:57) 6/9/91 AIW Career Opportunities Odeum Pavilion Villa Park, IL 1) Cactus Jack & Terry Funk defeat Doug Gilbert & Eddie Gilbert via pinfall in a no DQ match to become the 14th and 15th entrants in the AIW Heavyweight Championship tournament after Funk hit Doug with a second-rope piledriver onto a steel chair; Funk was revealed to be Jack's mystery partner and swore that he and Jack would take out the Gilberts and any of their associates, whether it be in the ring or on the street; as Eddie attended to his brother, he received a piledriver of his own by Jack (7:52) 2) Chris Benoit was the winner of the Torneo Cibernetico to become the final entrant in the tournament; Chavo Guerrero was eliminated via pinfall by Buddy Landel after a Stan Lane-assisted Rocket Launcher (11:33), Negro Navarro was eliminated via pinfall by Villano V after a crossbody/vertical suplex combination assisted by Villano IV (13:19), Villano IV was eliminated via submission by Blue Panther after an unnoticed low blow and a Nudo Lagunero (14:11), Lane was eliminated via pinfall by Eddie Guerrero after a Gory Bomb (15:05), Landel was eliminated via pinfall by Chris Benoit after a diving headbutt (16:02), Villano V was eliminated via pinfall by Jerry Lynn after a Tombstone piledriver (16:59), Panther was eliminated via pinfall by Guerrero after a Tornado DDT (21:16), Lynn was eliminated via pinfall by Guerrero after a Gory Bomb (22:09), Guerrero was eliminated via pinfall by Benoit after a powerbomb (27:59) (27:59) 3) The Great Kokina & Owen Hart defeat Samu & Naoki Sano via pinfall after Kokina hits a Banzai Drop on Sano (11:03) 4) The Lightning Kid & Rick Rude defeat Fatu & Wayne Shamrock via pinfall after a Rude Awakening/guillotine leg drop combination on Fatu (15:46) 5) Terry Gordy & Steve Williams defeat Cactus Jack & Paul Orndorff via countout after Jack hit a piledriver on Orndorff onto the floor and then an elbow drop from the ring apron (7:17) 6) Chris Benoit & Jeff Jarrett defeat Bam Bam Bigelow & Terry Funk via TKO after Funk put Bigelow in a spinning toe hold while Jarrett applied a Camel Clutch, after the match Jarrett hit a DDT on Benoit (6:12) 7) The Great Kokina defeats Owen Hart via pinfall after a Banzai Drop (13:42) 8) Rick Rude defeats The Lightning Kid via pinfall after Rude grabs the house microphone and demands that the Kid lay down for him and take the pin, which the Kid reluctantly does (0:55) 9) Steve Williams defeats Terry Gordy via pinfall after an Oklahoma Stampede followed by a piledriver (11:27) 10) Chris Benoit defeats Jeff Jarrett via pinfall after Terry Funk accidentally hits the referee with a steel chair; as Benoit tries to wake the referee, Jarrett hits Benoit with Funk's chair, and then tries to wake the referee himself; as this happens, the lights in the arena suddenly go out, as they come back on, Butch Reed has arrived to the ring, and smashes both Funk and Jarrett with the loose chair, puts the knocked-out Benoit on top of Jarrett, rolls the referee towards the center of the ring and walks into the crowd as the referee counts the pinfall (12:31) 6/9/91 & 6/12/91 AIW Transmission TV (for 6/15/91 on WGN) Odeum Pavilion & West Bradley Place Villa Park, IL & Chicago, IL 1) [joined in progress] The Great Kokina defeats Owen Hart via pinfall after a Banzai Drop (4:42) 2) Rick Rude defeats The Lightning Kid via pinfall after Rude grabs the house microphone and demands that the Kid lay down for him and take the pin, which the Kid reluctantly does (0:55) 3) [joined in progress] Steve Williams defeats Terry Gordy via pinfall after an Oklahoma Stampede followed by a piledriver (5:27) 4) [joined in progress] Chris Benoit defeats Jeff Jarrett via pinfall after Terry Funk accidentally hits the referee with a steel chair; as Benoit tries to wake the referee, Jarrett hits Benoit with Funk's chair, and then tries to wake the referee himself; as this happens, the lights in the arena suddenly go out, as they come back on, Butch Reed has arrived to the ring, and smashes both Funk and Jarrett with the loose chair, puts the knocked-out Benoit on top of Jarrett, rolls the referee towards the center of the ring and walks into the crowd as the referee counts the pinfall (8:31) 5) Chris Benoit & Steve Williams vs. The Great Kokina & Rick Rude ends in a no contest after The Lightning Kid, Jerry Lynn, & Brad Rheingans run in and attack Kokina; Fatu & Samu follow them to assist Kokina, with Benoit & Williams getting inadvertently involved, bringing out Eddie Guerrero, Owen Hart, Wayne Shamrock and the entire set devolving into a chaotic brawl (12:30)

Okay, so, I've been screwing around with some old fant-booking of a new promotion. In theory, it's for WGN what JCP/WCW was to TBS. Chicago-based promotion, hub and spoke around the Midwest, theoretically taking what was left of the AWA's territory. Trying to market in a more modern way (longer TV matches) but retain aspects that I like, and integrate in concepts of lucha and puro that can stand within an older style. At some point, for example, I want apuestas to be huge show-carrying matches. Just a general bet that fans will like some of the things that we have now. Talent: Anyone not signed by WCW/WWF, or at least being used by them. Cutting out every other second/third-tier promoter's legs, though. For reality's sake, there's a budget and retaining talent has to be a challenge, at least at first. Every six months contract extensions can be handed out, starting with the first anniversary (May '92). Since it's non-WCW/WWF guys, a solid amount of them have Japanese commitments that I will largely ignore. They can fly in from O'Hare to Tokyo after TV tapings. That's Baba/Inoki/Tenryu's problem. Lucha is similar but without the reliance on Americans, it seems mostly pointless to think about killing RL bookings. If someone leaves a company, I can sign them, but actual poaching of natives from a foreign company is verboten. Real life will be reflected, to an extent. You'll see what I mean, hopefully. Set up: One hour of weekly TV and major shows every 3-5 weeks. That means about 35 minutes of in-ring a week on a show that gets 50 minutes. All Chicago supercards are blacked out and then released on home video, non-Chicago supercards are televised live like Clashes. That's a big wrinkle to iron out but it'll work itself out... because. Just because. Everything except the most recent show (which I did a few days ago) is at least a week old, and I'm trying to expand my writing so it's not just barebones results. There are a few dropped ideas that are still written in because it'd be lame to scratch them now.

Also, and it's not like he'd get credit for it anyway, but imagine Tajiri in '08-'09 WWECW? He'd have been phenomenal. Some combination of the '08-'09 ECW and SMASH/WNC rosters might be close to the perfect wrestling company.

I'm not sure that I've seen anyone say a word about his match in House of Hardcore against Hero last year. I mean, sure it's House of Hardcore, but more importantly, it's Chris Hero vs. Yoshihiro Tajiri. Tajiri also deserves credit for bringing the most over single spot in WWE over the last five years to the company (Bryan's buzzsaw kick). An ancillary point if there ever was one, but he still deserves it.

Pretty much all of her street fights from around her peak are pretty good if not great. The ones with Kansai get the most talk but my personal favourite is the 2/28/99 one vs. Mima Shimoda in Oz Academy. I've never seen a match that made me think of Christmas more than Mima-Oz.

I'm all-in on Southern Comfort.

Super, super entertaining match. I'm with you on this definitely being better than TLC I, at least. I'll re-watch because i) it's great & ii) I'm not sure about the elimination rules beyond "offensive maneuver" and if it was only consecutive falls that could end the match. I hate that this match has the legacy of being the progenitor for WWF/E tables matches when those stopped following the rules of this one. Those tag team tables matches from 2001-2003 or so when it was just one-fall and it didn't matter if your opponent was the one who put you through the table or not to lose are some of my absolute least favorite matches ever.

https://prowrestlingsuperblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/19/top-100-matches-lists-from-the-pro-wrestling-super-show/ Top 100 Matches (Lists from the Pro-Wrestling Super Show) My List:14) Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (Submission, WWF WrestleMania XIII, 3/23/1997) 8) Bret Hart vs Steve Austin (WWF Survivor Series, 11/17/1996) Yeah, I am absolutely on board with SS being the better match. The Mania match is more spectacular and all of that, and more importantly it's a very unique match for the promotion, we all know what makes that match great. But SS feels as close to being a universal main event level match as anything ever, something that you could run in any building in the world and have it go nuclear.

AJPW and Z1's working relationship was close enough that bringing in talent from both would be reasonable, like Hayashi & Yang.

2002 was already the beginning of the era for exploiting ECW nostalgia. Just look at MLW. I think that Japan leaves a lot of fun options. AJPW is full of free talent. And do we have any real reason to believe that Alexander Otsuka couldn't have been a globally transcendent star had he gotten some US bookings?

Gedo/Saku-reDRagon is a million dollar match.

I think that Lashley was the straw that broke the camel's back, not Brock. They still went big on Batista, Cena, Edge, and Orton post-Lesnar.

Mero and Sable?

Bray Wyatt's babyface reactions say otherwise.

Someone genuinely not liking the Usos is nearly incomprehensible to me.

Every single thing that Jeff G. Bailey has spoken into a microphone over that span of time, for promos. Most of the other really good Wildside promos were comedic, like Seth Delay/Sal Rinauro's acts. The IWS Bloodstream legacy will be the segments featuring Beef Wellington & El Generico that were almost all pure comedy, but Franky the Mobster cut some exceptional "violently insane" promos that often were funny but suitably convincing that he was pretty unhinged. "Early" Jon Moxley stuff is in a similar vein.

And it was David Manning doing the actual signing. Mitigating factors!

Seems like a matchup to help fuel his heel turn.

Since the BC is going to be down three guys no matter who's elevated to the group's #1, who should be their replacements/what's the speculation? Cabana/Hero and War Machine have challenged K.E.S. for the GHC titles. The former make more sense in the context of the RoH relationship. I don't feel like Colt Cabana is so PRINCIPLED that he wouldn't come back on NJ's dime. And if Romero's gone, turn Barreta and make him BC's new junior singles contender, I guess? I assume that Kamaitachi is coming back as a CHAOS member.

He had about three moments where he was supposed to be taken seriously as a wrestler all year. Also, I just want him to actually win; I don't like them enough in-ring for them to win Best Tag Team, I don't think that TND would get Best on Interviews being a stable, and even though I get why you'd vote them for Best Gimmick, the thought that they actually have the best GIMMICK going (They're self-aware and clever college-educated black men in the WWE! They act like dick versions of themselves in real life! What a concept!) makes my stomach turn.

Huge Ambrose fan. I honestly thought, with the exception of Ryback, that he was the only wrestler who actually had really good matches with Rollins in 2015. I fully agree with the idea that he needs to have more "mat work"-- ugly-looking "take out the leg" stuff. He should never just stop running and swarming at his opponent unless he has control, at which point he can break out the Regal Stretch (Ambrose's consistent usage of the Regal Stretch early in matches when it won't have much end consequence is very weird,it always gets the five-count break when he starts ripping at the opponent's nostrils. It's like he is begging to get to have a sub finisher, but that he's not allowed to have one, so he just does this really painful-looking hold early in the match just because he wants to do it) or something else tortuous. He also regularly does spots working the fingers that go nowhere because they're not allowed to go anywhere. He had the short, short period when he was breaking out a nice-looking figure-4 and getting huge crowd pops, and I can remember him employing some nice transitions into half-crabs and Buffalo sleepers. It all fit what he was doing, but it always just got blown off. And we've all seen the Regal matches, which were spectacular. It all COULD fit the character, but it just... isn't allowed. He has great offense, just not throw-based offense, and as said, that's not going to fit the nearfall-fu style. He doesn't need to be a heel for this to work, though I think that he'd only get the chance to go "methlab BattlARTS" (greatest phrase ever) if he turned.

Having in-ring promos on every show has to be the first thing to go in WWE. They can still do contract signings and spontaneous in-ring promos would mean a lot, but there is no way at all for those to evolve. More conversational sit-down interviews. Everybody loved the interview segments from last year's snow day RAW, because they felt much more authentic. WWE also really need to get into the habit of announcing matches on Twitter as early as Friday. Impossible for the current model where Vince doesn't have the script finished until they need to tape Superstars, but having actual hype for matches will be valuable. One presentation method that needs to be used sparingly, but a revival of the really gimmicky hardcore matches like the Holly-Snow match from St. Valentine's Day Massacre that ended up in the Mississippi, or the classic Finlay-Regal parking lot brawl, would probably work out really well, especially if they intentionally let the camerawork and sound get worse, like a seedy indie match that ends up seeming more like a spontaneous fight video uploaded to YouTube. The SC reviewed Jordynne Grace-Heidi Lovelace match is a perfect example of something like that. Crowd brawling has been terribly overdone at times, yes, but take it out of the NBA/NHL arena setting and let things get genuinely chaotic. No wrestling promotion has ever wanted "sterile" to be a defining characteristic.

Also, Ozaki does intentionally kick out at 2.995 to add basis for the rematch that was WON MOTY and increase the interpromotional hate. There's another big DynOz match on a JWP show in-between the first two Toyota/Yamada matches between them and Yumiko Hotta/Takako Inoue (their other major rivalry with a specific AJW team which was originally based around Hotta/Takako as the AJW invaders on JWP soil, beating Oz and her partners until she had to turn to Kansai) that is just barely below the level of the Toyota/Yamada matches, but with even more inhuman stiffness.