Migs

He's in the exact right spot on the card right now. He can do a hot match for the belt, and the belt gives a reason for the match that doesn't require him talking. Could he do a couple of "main event" matches if Roman turned on him? Sure, by the current standards of what's required in terms of main event heat. But that's about it.

I don't think someone needs to be gay to portray a gay character.

I also think the promo as scripted, and Nia's delivery, were just way too "after school special." It was preachy to the point it felt defensive and undercut the message. (It's one reason I'm sort of terrified of WWE doing a gay angle with Balor... just feels like there's no way they get the tone right.)

My friend and I considered leaving before the main event to catch the 11:20 train, got suckered in by the hot opening, and very much regretted it. There were some sections that had empty the seats the whole show that were half full by the end. Crows chanting to entertain itself (in a section near me, there was a CM Punk chant). Really bad indictment of where this angle was on fan interest.

He got plenty of boos. WWE mutes the crowds when he comes out. The boos were pretty strong, about as strong as the cheers for Joe.

Was there, and absolutely. Was surprised at how negative the response was. Like, people literally giving her thumbs down.

I'm curious, honestly. But I appreciate attempts at greatness, even if they might end as excess.

Would it have been that hard to tape promos at Supercard of Honor that could have gone into the next week's show, even if the matches were from the prior taping?

The Young Bucks.

https://soundcloud.com/lovethegraps/lovethegraps-episode-47-firsts-miniseries-roh-era-of-honor-begins revisits the first ROH show and has the reaction you'd expect. ROH is sort of the apex of the early 2000s indie scene. A lot of the guys were fun at the time because they were unique in various ways, but the guys who actually hold up in any way are generally the main eventers in ROH - Danielson, Low Ki, Punk, Joe, Styles. A lot of the other guys faded away because past some initial novelty, there were just some spots. (I loved the SAT at the time, but there wasn't exactly a ton of depth in those matches.) I'd imagine the most productive way to watch early ROH at this point would just be to hit those main events and safely ignore the undercards. Which, to be fair, seems to be the way most people talk about 90s AJPW - what lingers are the main events, and not so much the midcard (I haven't seen a crazy amount of it, but I've certainly seen a lot of dialogue about it over the years).

WCW did a really good job of ripping off Perfect Strangers for Douglas' music. He runs down Nebraska and says he's going to end Goldberg's new streak. He also talks about General Rection, which makes it really hard to take him seriously. Douglas gets an almost five minute promo, Goldberg gets a three minute entrance, and the match lasts a minute. Shane uses a chain right at the start to get some heat, but Goldberg hits a back suplex. Lex Luger walks out with Goldberg's trainer Sarge in the rack. Momentary distraction before a spear and a jackhammer. Not much to this.

ECW's not even dead yet and Corino is already on a barnstorming tour. Cham Pain has the fire but is fairly sloppy, and the first five minutes are almost all punches. Corino takes control and is much more methodical, in a good way. He busts out some a King of Old School bit, as he brings in a chair... to sit down in while he applies a front facelock. My mind wanders to Corino v. Lawler, which I feel like would have been great, and I know happened in the coming years. Have I seen that one before? I rack my brain, but it's been too long and I watched too much indy wrestling in the early 00s. The match is still going. Cham Pain takes over again with, you guessed it, punches. They introduce a table, which is of course more over than both guys, because it is 2000. There's a ref bump, and interference from CW Anderson, and an overdramatic table bump from Cham Pain to end it. Corino got this to watchable, but not much more. Not recommended.

The USA Pro announcing is some of the worst of all-time. What, you haven't enjoyed "heavy technical wrestling"? I believe this is to determine the first UCW Champion (a promotion which would be very prominent in New York over the next couple of years). Even in front of this not so smart crowd, Ki is already awe inspiring with his stiffness and unique style. Xavier is just about there with him and makes a nice foil for Ki, as he can keep up, but his style is flashier and distinct from Ki. The pinfall reversal sequence is a bit cliche, but the rest is a lot of fun and unique for the time. Jac Sabboth interferes at the end to set up another evil promoter storyline, but at least that feud pays off nicely in about six months.

They already have? There's a Punk comp up there. But yeah, the full shows should be up there, and I don't know when they plan on doing that. If I was into streaming the current shows, I would not be a subscriber.

Is this only when it airs and not on demand, or am I missing something in the app?

In. Same, going for sure.

I think it's some kind of War Games style match. Dark horse (although I doubt NJPW lets them do it) - Okada v. Omega, with Bucks v. Cody/Page underneath.

Only if you like shows with massive amounts of edits. I thought the CHV versions were pretty identical to the Live PPVs. Well I could have sworn Unforgiven 2000 was. Coliseum died in '97.

I thought the semi's were OK (just about), but the final was dreadful. I have no idea what they were going for with the moonsault that missed but was meant to hit and then a rough as hell and awkward DDT which had the worst combination of looking terrible but also looking really dangerous that meant the ending of the match got no reaction. As I think others have mentioned, given they had spent two years building up Kelly Klein's undefeated streak, the fact it ended like that basically makes the whole streak null and void. Don't understand the booking of the tournament at all - from everything I can tell Sumie Sakai seems like a lovely person, but I always thought that using Emma to put over Deonna Purrazo in the final would've been the way to go. It also would've been a really good match probably! Sakai was like the fourth most logical option in the tournament, behind Emma (who has a big star vibe), Klein (beating Emma or Purazzo in the final to set up a feud), or Purazzo (beating Klein to pay off their feud). I also thought the semis were ok (watched them on TV this week since I'd skipped the pre-show day of), but the final was as bad as I recall. And the TV is still dead if it's not pushing the Bullet Club wars forward.

Yeah, he drops in occasionally during 1992, but he's not full time on SN until '93. He is doing Worldwide with Schiavone every week at this point.

Mostly curious to see where Hennig is at this point, against a very young Carlito, who's only about a year in here. We're JIP, and this is mostly punching and kicking until a ref bump. Carly hits an ugly stunner and X-Factor, both for two. A missed cross body leads to the Perfectplex, which Carly gets to kick out of. Hennig wins after a chain shot, but the refs confer to set up the Dusty finish. Hennig looks fairly slow here, and Carly was crazy green. Not much to this one.

Scoot is a guy who had a great look and would probably have gotten a much closer look by big promotions nowadays, when height matters less. Interesting to see Ki bust out a flying head scissors here, as that's not something I recall him using a lot. There's a really nice counter of a bulldog here by Scoot, although that's again not a standard Low Ki move, so maybe it's a common counter that I'm forgetting Scoot used a lot. A cross body block from Ki and he is really working this match in an odd way. He counters a chin lock by getting the crowd the stomp along with him and gets Scoot into the ropes for a back body drop? I mean, some of Ki's standard moveset is here, but there's so much that's out of character that it's fairly disorienting. Ki win's this with a Phoenix Splash (which he usually uses as a dive), which doesn't land clean. Worth a watch if you've been following Ki's stuff and want to see something a bit different from him, but otherwise skippable.

This looks like a pretty big crowd by ECWA standards. After some nice looking but not consequential opening matwork, Youth busts out an apron DDT, well before apron moves came into vogue. His rolling dive that follows looks pretty awkward, though. Daniels controls for a bit and isn't too interesting in the process, but the tide turns with a Russian leg sweep from the second rope. Well, they keep trading control without much real build, although the spots are nice. There's some big moves, and some kickouts, and I'm wondering how well this match was received in 2000, because it feels like a cliche now. Even placed in context, this match feels like it's in a no man's land where it's not big enough as a spotfest to stand up to what's happening in, say, CZW, but it's also not bringing the grittiness that guys like Low Ki and American Dragon would soon bring to the indie scene. Perfectly fine but not essential.