Migs

I always love how IWA typifies the indy story. "We did this amazing match for 20 people" is usually a cliche, but there's really 20 f'n people there a lot of the time for IWA shows. Cabana's stretching and jaw jacking at the start is great. Solid first round tournament match here (which would become a type on the indies in short order).

The theater here is actually a big concert venue, much like the Hammerstein Ballroom. The brawling here is really nicely heated, as opposed to a lot of the ECW crowd brawling by this point. Loved the suplex out of the odd crowd pit back into the ringside area. The pace keeps up in the ring, which is really refreshing for a 2000 RVD match, which are usually best watched with some mild fast forward (although he starts to slow down again towards the end).

Chilly Willy definitely had an odd thing. Feels like he could have gone somewhere, but Wikipedia indicates he enlisted in the military after 9/11, which would explain why he sort of disappeared after ECW. He's another guy, like Simon and Swinger, who feels like they could have been something in ECW if they'd had a real plan for them, but they sort of got into ECW too late for that. This match tries to keep things in the ring for a bit, which really feels like stalling in the context of these workers. Like, there's no way Sandman and the Baldies are going to have a mat wrestling match. The work is surprisingly pretty decent in this section. The brawling is actually a bit slow, which ends up working okay in the context of a fan cam, as it makes it easier for the camera to follow everything relevant. Surprisingly rewarding as a watch because of how weird it was, but not really good.

This is a pretty fun brawl that feels like it really would have benefited from having multiple camera angles, as there was a lot actually going on (as opposed to just kicking and punching). I really feel like the heels here would have had a shot to be something in ECW if they'd have had a bit more time to get built up, but at this point they're definitely JTTS.

I'm reading this now. His humor can be very crude and shocking, but he has an undeniable lowbrow wit about him that's perfect for the carny world of rasslin'. That's a very good way to put it. I found him kind of off-putting at times but appreciated that he felt he sort of needed that gear to get by in the world of wrestling, particularly when dealing with the older talent.

Burning through a lot of last year's shows on the streaming service. Really liking Colt Cabana on color. You can really the feel the difference in when the New Japan guys are there v. when they're not. Just totally changes the depth of the show.

It's pretty common in these situations to use a fake name, even if it's one created by the writer. "Jenna (not her real name)" or something. It protects the person's identity without stripping their humanity.

The Wrestle War '91 episode is also not a live watch and has been excellent so far (I'm about 40 minutes in). Enjoy the live watches as well, as it gets me to watch some stuff that I normally wouldn't put on.

Regardless of why, that's good consistent color commentating.

Thought Roode/Flair v. Jax/Crews was pretty fun - a bit less comedy and more wrestling than the prior matches (although I've generally enjoyed the comedy).

What else is interesting on there? Everything other than Memphis seems super random.

I'll jump back in next week.

Catching up from last week - dawho5 gave me this: https://youtu.be/qng13D2kKBo I've watched an embarrassingly small amount of 90s All Japan - heck, I'm not sure I've ever seen Kroffat and Furnas on Japanese soil, only their (not good) stuff on this side of the pond. I don't think I've ever seen Kikuchi before. Love the fire early on, with the elbows in response to Kroffat's slap. The fans are super into this guy. Also, his rising sun tights are great. Kobashi is in and this is quite the babyface shine sequence. This is a great match to show people who think Japanese crowds are "quiet" as they are chanting like crazy for the babyfaces from the opening bell. I'm still not loving Furnas here, but Kroffat is much better as a dick heel than he was as a babyface. Interestingly, there's sort of two heat segments here, but both are on Kikuchi, who is pretty great in the FIP role. Great seller, especially with his facials. The second heat segment on him is really fun (particularly when Kroffat is in there). The hot tag to Kobashi is electric. This stays structured longer than an American tag match would, as things don't totally break down after the hot tag, even though we're building to the finish. The crowd really loses it's mind on the near fall after the dropkick doomsday device. Dug the finish, as did the crowd (holy wow what a pop for the moonsault). Really awesome match, glad I got to see this.

Watched the stream from last week and thought it was pretty enjoyable. Was really odd feeling to see the Bullet Club wrestle as pure babyfaces, but I think as they work out the kinks it'll work much better than trying to make them heels. Interesting that the Young Bucks have based the two 2018 matches I've seen (this and Wrestle Kingdom) on body part selling. Again, feels a bit weird, but I think it's a positive to see them make a commitment to finding ways to vary their matches. It'll pay off long-term.

I'll have my review up this week, but I'll be traveling a ton next week and should probably skip this one.

I've seen it suggested elsewhere that this may have something to do with plans for the draft, but it's still concerning.

A friend of mine is going to Backlash in May and just got an update that it will not be a Raw PPV, but feature both Raw and Smackdown. Seems like this may be the end of the split brand PPVs at the moment.

This. He makes Edge look like Kawada. Yeah, he should work on being a show-off heel, because I can't understand for the life of me how you can even like that guy as a character. I get the sense Ospreay is still improving and might find his way to a good heel persona with the right crowd. He seems a lot better to me now than he was when I first saw him a year ago - there's certainly a chance for him to make a leap. Interestingly, it seems like Flip Gordon was working at the show-off heel persona in Beyond, and it's a really great transition for him.

Would it be absurd to reach out to the production company? They might be willing to sell digital copies?

Also, interesting that the NXT War Games appears on the list, but not any of the original ones. Is the population on Reddit younger? That might explain some of the recency bias?

Pulp Fiction always works, even when ECW is at a low ebb, but holy hell is that Dudleys promo long and not the way to start it out.

It sounded like JR was straight up writing King's lines at the end there. Real terrible, although I like Austin still making threats while on the "symbol."

Southofheavy gave me this last week. Bryan Danielson v. Jimmy Rave, ROH 2009 https://youtu.be/zRoJrt_fsfs This is from deep in my ROH dead period, so I have no clue about the context, other than it seems Prince Nana has a group that's all claiming to be from Africa. The fans use toilet paper instead of streamers, which is cute. The matwork here is nice, seemingly driven mostly by Danielson. There's a freaky twisty version of the Yes Lock that is awesome. The match takes a while to get out of first gear, before a bit of strike exchange and then an interesting fight over heel hooks that plays out a bit like a figure four reversal spot. Danielson gets a choke and elbows to create a stoppage. Was ROH going for that UFC vibe in this time period with the stoppage?