W2BTD

Meltzer is reporting that he thinks we'll be getting a series of matches. With your info and Dave's I'd speculate we'll see a mask match after Liger drops the title in the states. There is a ton of NWA turmoil and uncertainty right now with the Tharpe/Ronquillo split. I was told the Liger thing has been pushed to April. Somebody also told me that NJPW was on the verge of "booting Tharpe", and thus, the NWA. Tharpe did a Wreddit AMA and was behaving as if everything is peachy with NJPW, but he dodged every Ronquillo related question like only a lawyer can.

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On the one hand, that's fair, but I think what made it so good was the restraint that Triple H showed relative to other matches that he's had. He was able to make it still seem like a big deal but without the bloat that brings down almost all of his big matches. That was on him, not Bryan. He probably could've had two dozen matches in his career there were just as good if he'd only shown that restraint before. This is a good point. Trips was clearly driving the cart there for many reasons I think the time crunch of a WrestleMania undercard may have inadvertently helped from that perspective, too.

At the risk of derailing, concerning Triple H's best match ever, which I agree the Bryan match may have been, you probably have to consider that you could name (conservatively) a dozen or more pretty decent wrestlers who have arguably had their best career match against Bryan. Trips, Bray Wyatt, Morishima, Delirious, Jimmy Rave, Kane, Samoa Joe, Austin Aries, you could even make arguments for Cena & Punk among many others. Bryan is the Ric Flair of his generation. He brings everybody up to his level. I saw Erick Stevens have a four star match with the guy. He's amazing.

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I think 2013 was the best in ring year WWE ever had, and I don't think there is a close second. I think New Japan has never been better than 2012-current.

The overall quality of bell to bell wrestling has never been higher. The great matches may not stand out as much as they did 25 years ago (i'm not even sure this is true) because there are more great matches now than there have been ever before. That could be part perception due to easier access like OJ mentioned, but I personally think it's also the fact that wrestling is simply of a higher quality up & down cards now than it was year ago. You have to go far deeper down the WWE roster today before you get to the lousy workers than you did in any other era. Amost everybody is competent at worst. Same for New Japan, Dragon Gate, or just about any top promotion. The working standards have never been higher. The water level has raised. It's harder for great matches to stand out. I'll take '13 & '14 over any two year period ever.

They did a little live broadcast last night, which was Hirooki Goto getting tipsy & Tetsuya Naito milking a beer while wearing Santa hats, and the announcement that 2/1 Korakuen Hall & the two New Beginning PPV's on 2/11 & 2/14 will all be airing live. Kidani had spoken at the original presser of maybe just doing the four major PPV live, but it looks like they changed plans, at least for New Beginning(s).

I'd watch the main events of both shows. On night 1 watch the Liger match it has a killer angle on it. Night 2 the Yano match has a good angle too. Nothing else stood out as can't miss. I'd add Komatsu vs Tanaka to that list. Maybe the best match they've had yet.

Do you know if Liger is going to hit any of the Texas NWA groups ? Yes. I know one promoter for sure that was promised a Liger match months ago. If that holds, i'm sure he'll work some of the other affiliates around the state too. Here's the catch. NWA Houston recently left the NWA and is now "Lonestar Wrestling", because Chris Ronquillo (who runs Lonestar ) & Bruce Tharpe had a nasty split. People are taking sides. There are some affiliates who are "Ronquillo guys" who never dealt with Tharpe, so there is a lot of uncertainty as to how all of this will shake out in terms of who stays on and who leaves the NWA. Anyway, I'd expect Liger to hit Texas either way no matter what, considering Tharpe lives here.

The problem with that idea is that Liger is headed to the States for a tour around the NWA affiliates in January/February, presumably after Dome week. I'm assuming he drops the title back to Owens or somebody else while he's here.

The Liger/Desperado storyline has been outstanding, and I agree, it makes me want to see Liger win as well. It is very rare that angles have that effect on me these days. Liger vs Desperado for the NWA Junior title was announced for the 1/5 New Year's Dash show at Korakuen. Also the two matches for the 1/3 mini show before the Dome were announced as well: Liger, Komatsu, Tanaka vs Despy, Tachi, TAKA Nagata & Tiger Mask vs Nakanishi & Capt New Japan This is airing on NJW. Also announced was that the WK9 preshow "Rambo" Royal Rumble gimmick will have 15 men.

We just talked about this show on VOW, and i'm making Rich watch it before our next show. Inexplicably one of my favorite shows ever.

I never thought Brody was anything special (aside from a million dollar look), and he wouldn't sniff my list, but I can also see what people who like him see in him. I get why he's not very well liked here, because of the heavy emphasis a lot of you put on selling. Clearly, that was not Brody's specialty. He's not nearly as good as his general reputation, but he's also not complete dogshit like he's portrayed on this site. He's closer to the dogshit, though.

I have no idea which one is which, and even if I could tell, there seems to be no appreciable difference between the two. I mean, if one was better than the other, we'd be able to tell them apart, no?

Because VKM is a wrestling promoter that wishes he was anything but a wrestling promoter, and has delusions that people see him as something other than a wrestling promoter. The first 30 seconds of the Austin interview showed the massive insecurities and psychosis this man is infected with.

Since I'm never one not to stick my nose in where it doesn't need to be, I have to say you're being about ten times more pointlessly stubborn than Parv is being. Now that I'm done giving away two unwanted cents, what Joe posted above is dead on. If you work main events, you get more opportunities for good matches. You guys have made Joe the calm voice of reason. Just think about that for a moment. I have no idea if I should be insulted, flattered, or both.

Card placement counts in the sense that the higher somebody was on cards, the more they had opportunity to shine, thus there is a definite advantage that long term main eventers have over undercard guys. I don't think card placement matters in terms of breaking down candidates and saying, "well, this guy was a main eventer and this other guy never was, so the first guy was obviously better". Everybody here is smart enough to understand that simply isn't true. The list is going to be dominated more by main event level workers as opposed to undercard workhorse/enhancement types, that I have no doubt. I think that's all Parv is trying to say.

Rowan will likely never be THE guy, but I can easily see him slotting into the Kane spot of big guy who's always around and used to (try to) make people look better. Edit: shoe beat me to it. Sure, I could see that, but in relation to the idea that Big Show going over was a mistake because Rowan is some big time up & comer who could have used a big win, well, I don't buy that as a booking criticism here. Rowan losing isn't that big of a deal. And quite honestly, beating Big Show isn't that big of a deal.

I'm sure when he said "North America", he meant U.S. & Canada, which is something I do without thinking all of the time and it drives me nuts.

I'd love to hear Dave talk again broach the subject of reevaluating old footage. Since World launched that's pretty much all he's been doing. It's a pretty seismic shift from someone who once directly told me that reevaluating old footage was a waste of time because you have to be in the moment to get a match. Not this shit again. He doesn't believe in rerating old matches, because he believes in sticking with the rating he gave it in the moment, which is perfectly reasonable and makes a ton of sense, yet is constantly misinterpreted by some here. This has nothing to do with rewatching old matches, and *gasp*, enjoying them.

Let's face it, Rowan doesn't have any serious long term star potential anyway. He'll be way down the card in six months, probably doing comedy. He's on the roster because he's big, and had the right look for the Wyatt gimmick.

Yeah. A GWE project is obviously heavily based on ring work, where as with card positioning the ring work is only part of the equation, and in certain times & places, the smallest part of the equation.

Someone who was higher on cards has an inherent advantage over someone who was lower on cards in a project like this. I'm not sure why people are finding this hard to understand. It's a simple point that Parv might be complicating a bit, but then again I have no idea where this thread was splintered off from and what kind of kickback he was getting on this simple premise.

Opportunity & being put in a position to deliver great matches obviously plays a factor. It isn't "fair", but at the end of the day these guys produced what they produced.