Migs

After watching some of the other ECW guys on the indy scene have messy matches that seem sloppy and lazy, it's fun to see these guys go all out and make things messy in a good way. A way that feels really out of control at times and even a bit dangerous for the fans (I would not want to be that close to light tube shots). It's total anarchy, but everyone hits their stuff. Great brawl.

This comes out of Guido saving Low Ki from an attack by Xavier after his match with Tajiri. Mikey Whipwreck joins after a blown power bomb. Other than that, Xavier looks good here, but the ECW guys feel like they're going through the motions. I love Danny Drake on commentary explaining an Irish whip being called that because "it's how you toss them out of the bar when they're closing." Whipwreck eliminates Guido with the Whippersnapper. Mikey and Xavier have a decent segment, but then there's a ref bump, and a chair, and holy shit this is a mess. Mikey wins with another Whippersnapper. Whipwreck gets the ICW title here, although, SPOILER, he gets it back by the end of the night. Another trainwreck from the ECW guys on these indy shows.

Give it to ICW - the production is at least good enough that you can hear the promo, beating most of the indies we've seen on this project. Tammy legit is dressed like she's going to walk the dog. Candido turning on Balls is really poorly disguised. At least it keeps Da Baldies match short. Kash comes in and it leads to an impromptu match, as we're not just using ECW talent but booking tropes as well. The energy is good, but this is sloppy. The Equalizer comes in and makes himself the ref while also turning this into a handicap match - this is pointlessly convoluted, especially since none of these guys would even be on the next show. And more run-ins! The Nutcracker Suite from Balls looks pretty great, though. Not worth the time.

Really excited to dive into the UCW / ICW stuff from this year, as this was the promotion that really started me down the indy wrestling rabbit hole in 2001.I didn't go to my first show until June, but I went back and saw these tapes pretty quickly after that. Cagematch has this show as Red's first ever - while he probably worked some small indies before this, this is definitely his first show on any sort of stage, and the same for Joel Maximo. The crowd is already losing their mind for Red's highspots - the Red Star Press gets a giant reaction, and his dive gets a "holy shit" chant. Worth enduring the awful announcers just to hear the crowd reactions. Terrific star making performances for both guys, but Red especially. Hard to explain if you're seeing this stuff for the first time now how mind blowing Red was in 2001.

I think it's less people feeling the need to watch live and more mourning the death of the era where that was possible and / or fun. It used to be enjoyable to sit down and watch a PPV with friends. Now a single PPV (and certainly ever big 4 show) is going to push way past the boundaries of what most people enjoy in one sitting. It sucks that the WWE is basically requiring that their shows be watched later and cherry picked unless you have an insane tolerance for long wrestling shows.

Isn't this the first time the Vader-Simmons title change has been released?

The ECW tour of the indies heats up. This is worked very basic early on. They get into the southern formula in a way that's shockingly... uh, formulaic for a 2001 indy match. Youth does nicely as a dickish heel at points, but this is otherwise really paint by numbers. Corino's in for the hot tag and is throwing dropkicks. Dumb spot where a kickout of a rollup sends Youth all the way through the ropes in a dive onto his partner and manager. There's some really tepid brawling at this point. Youth hits Whipwreck with the belt and gets the pin. Not a particularly exciting way to spend 15 minutes.

Definitely depends on the week. I've been enjoying watching the ROH shows live or close to it, so weeks when they're on tour seriously bumps up the number. I also have a newborn baby, so there's a lot of watching while feeding or sitting up with her - depending on her sleeping patterns, that could be a lot of time or a little.

I did think the Slamboree 1998 show had some interesting backstage talk about the office machinations at the time. A much better episode than the Saturday Night one, which was a nadir show for the podcast, I think.

So, this is the last ECW show, sadly. Somewhat oddly, ECW ends in the south, far away from Philly. Maybe a metaphor for how far away from things the company had gotten by the end. They're using an odd looking red ring, too. The crowd is big and hot, though. They pop like crazy for the opening sequence. There's a brawling up the aisle sequence that's basically all walking and feels pretty unnecessary. Crazy busts out a pretty nice surfboard into a full nelson. The crowd chants for tables, and the guys go to look for one but can't find it. After that, they go straight to the finish. Match is mostly interesting for the historical circumstances - otherwise, you've seen Crazy v. Tajiri before.

I don't see "rough-and-tough brawler" in Kevin Owens - I see a chubby neckbeard. Someone either here or on Twitter (Dylan maybe?) said he's like an avatar for the audience as he looks like a more in-shape version of them. (Apologies if I'm butchering that assertion.) Which is harsh but funny nonetheless. I have joked that if we ever had a wrestling costume party, 75% of my friends would be best suited to go as Kevin Owens.

Yeah, I'm stunned by the people who are like "I guess I'm not going." News flash - either not that many tickets actually got to scalpers (in which case, the tickets went to other real fans) or the price is going to come down. Good for the Bucks and Cody for getting the treatment that a top level concert would. Still impressive to fully sell it out that quickly. Ended up with first level on the side - not great, but also not particularly expensive, and I want to be in that building for this. Going to keep an eye on the prices for those floor tickets, though.

Congrats! So, not sure how general you'd like the topics to be, but here's a few off the top of my head: - ANDY KAUFMAN - Memphis booking philosophy, specifically the Lawler slays the giant years - The haircut angle with Idol/Rich - The origin of the concession stand brawls - Lawler winning the AWA title in '88 (and that period working with the AWA and World Class in general) - The WWF invasion angle in '93

I meant the hot streak the Elite guys have been on. There's no better brand to tie yourself to at the moment if you're the NWA.

If Cody's winning, they have a bigger plan for the NWA title for sure, which I'd normally scoff at, but with the hot streak these guys are on, I'm interested.

And to confirm, after 40 minutes of trying, I am All In. They announced Mysterio today, and Cody challenging for the NWA Title (presumably against Nick Aldis).

And dealt with a real ticket vendor. Based on Matt's twitter post, I believe they have sold out or sold 10k.

Yeah, this is insane.

Cosign on how good the Bucks and Smash Bros match was. Lot of fun. Bruiser and Naito was a lot of fun, too. You could do worse for a bottom guy in the G1 than Bruiser.

Checking this Toronto show out now. Can't believe how into the Knife Pervert Toronto was. Match with him and Martinez was surprisingly blah, given that they worked pretty well together last year.

The booking is built to have very little momentum most of the time.

First time seeing Shane, although the name is pretty familiar. It sounds like Corino may be a surprise replacement for someone (based on the music - Val Venis?). Shane wins a match by forfeit, but Corino attacks him and they have a short match (although the bell keeps ringing, so it might not be a match at all). Corino hits the superkick and Old School Expulsion and does a promo in Spanish. He also steals Shane's belt. Not much to this at all.

This was probably the most frequent matchup to occur this year, right? Felt like they wrestled dozens of times. Unfortunately, the Memphis TV format means they only get a few minutes, although it's a fun few minutes. But it's apparent compared to the beginning of the year how both have been able to slow down and sand off the rough edges, Dragon especially. Curious to see when Dragon drops the mask again.

Really fun stuff. Ki lands a dive cleanly that I've seen him struggle with at times. The press slam into the ceiling was very cool and a nice use of the venue. I also liked Ki countering when Monsta gives in to the crowd chanting "one more time." Monsta uses his size pretty well after being pushed around a little too much at the beginning. Jersey All Pro had a lot of weak finishes this year... I assume it was related to them having only a small group of top guys and wanting to find excuses to do rematches. Normally that's a minus, but when those top guys are Ki, Homicide, and Da Hit Squad, it's hard to be too mad.

Yes, was wondering if this was an issue on my end. Really annoying.