Migs

Laser pointers were stupid. That Undertaker music was awful. The cage on fire looked cool. This was good but really long.

These two are brilliant together - they both are awesome at the interplay and get so much out of the little moments.

I remember being super disappointed by this at the time. Easy to see why here, as this is a dull mess and pretty heatless too.

I would be very interested in something like this - I'm familiar with the period but the specificity of the discussion (what were really the turning points for these guys?) seems like it would be really fun to dive into.

The Ninja Turtles wrestling (and wrestling well) feels like a child playing with toys in the wrestling ring coming to life. (Personally, I just need to see someone as He-Man and I'm set.) I really liked the funky mathwork at the beginning, particularly with the fifth man on the Turtles Team (Splinter?). Really liked the finish of the first fall, which was perhaps the most logical use of a rowboat ever. The second fall did a little less for me, as the way it broke down really took some energy out of the match for me (this is also where the lucha rules lose me a bit - why is it okay for it to be 5-on-1 for minutes?). I like the brawling in the third fall, although I wish the cameras were able to capture a bit more of it. Liked the dive train as an end of match high spot. I didn't quite follow the submission finish, though. All in all, a pretty fun 20 minutes.

There will be four teams in the semifinals. The three that advance and one second chance team selected by fan vote (although not sure if it's from all of the eliminated teams or just those eliminated in the quarterfinals). That seems reasonable enough.

Also, have I missed some sort of bracket for this thing? There's 12 teams, so 6 first round matches... and then 2 three way semifinals? A three way final?

Watched the first ep. Not blown away, but I liked the pacing and the overall length - it's not hard to follow a show that's going to be about a 20 minute per week commitment.

Tim Evans, since it seems you've been working through some of the early 2000s indy stuff, would offer this one up for your review. Low Ki v. Red, three days after 9/11(!), main eventing a show at the Elks Lodge. They'll be main eventing a show in Queens again in two weeks (which is sort of insane), so an interesting time to look back at these guys.

The Bella Twins seem like likely surprise entrants in the women's rumble based on the comeback talk on Total Divas.

The ****3/4 rating for the Junior title match was batshit.

Would love to join for next week. EDIT: I have WWE Network, NJPW World (for now), ROH's archives, and will probably get the Highspots Network shortly. And, of course, YouTube.

Apparently, the show is September 1. Haven't seen a location yet.

- Complete my 2000 projects within PWO2K (ECW, CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Low Ki) - More podcasting, including having wrestlers on the show - Dig into a promotion on Highspots Network (probably PWG)

Corino's blade job is legendary here, and rightly so. (Although he really should have gone with white trunks here, I think, to put it over the top.) The match itself is good but has a little too much ECW bullshit (why does every move have to be on a chair? why isn't the insane blade job enough?) but it's pretty good all the way through. The war paint spot is an awesome visual that I'm surprised hasn't been used more, even given that you need an insane blade job for it to be possible. This feels like the match that really cemented Corino's spot as an upper card guy, along with the Tajiri match at Hardcore Heaven (weirdly, both losing efforts).

Nassau Coliseum, 1987. Unaired WWF shows from what was a pretty strong time for them + loaded NWA shows as they tried to break into the market, including this War Games - Garvin/Rhodes/Windham/RnR v. Bubba/Tully/Arn/MX.

I actually think the Midnight Express are an interesting comparison (and I love both). Their highs are very high - when everything comes together, the Bucks can have some really excellent matches. Their offense keeps the floor relatively high for them - I'm generally not hating a Young Bucks match when I watch it (or almost any Midnight Express match, ever, and I've seen a lot). They certainly haven't hit that upper echelon of matches nearly as frequently as the Midnight Express, though. Maybe it's an issue of the right opponents, maybe they rely too much on the schtick, maybe it's that ROH booking leaves their matches frequently lacking in heat. I do also think there's a bit of a limit to their style that even they are starting to push up against. A lot of what makes their matches compelling is the intentional overuse of certain concepts - if one superkick is good, isn't 15 better? - but there's only so far that goes, especially when their matches are getting more exposure. Also - that two wrestlers have the top selling shirt in Hot Topic is nothing but a good thing for the business, no matter who that wrestler is.

I don't think he has the money for that, unless he finds some partners and/or leverages himself heavily Also, based on the issues that led Richardson to sell, I can't see Vince being an acceptable replacement.

Haven't been watching Smackdown recently - are there really two face women and seven heels?

If you're interested in the world of shoot interviews, I'm quite enjoying Sean Oliver's book. Not too heavy, but some fun behind the scenes stories.

Those might be the 2017 gateway drug in the way the Super J Cup and King of Death Matches were in the 90s.

ECW in '95-96 is pretty much straight gold. You can go right up until Barely Legal, after which the TV falls off a cliff and only recovers in spurts.

Maybe he's becoming less of a casual fan?

It looks like the whole thing is up now.