Migs

Terrific. They got to at least 1989 on 24/7, so they should be able to do a bunch of that.

"Ready Willing Gable" is also a terrible catchphrase.

Nak kneeing Ziggler in the face could be fun, though.

Whereas Charlotte has gone full Dalton Castle.

Becky's new look is very Berzerker.

Maybe this was explained on Raw and I missed it, but in kayfabe terms - how is the shakeup happening? Are the brands making selections? Are the wrestlers making the choice? Is it a contract negotiation between the brand and the wrestlers (where the Shakeup frees the wrestlers to negotiate with both sides)? Is it some random generator like the old drafts?

Ack, hate that they're going to do the bullshit they did in the prior brand split era with the lame duck PPV matchups.

I liked Corino's promo to start, especially the funny bait and switch on the type of match, and then Dreamer's change later. This is fun to start, but then we go wandering through the dark for a bit. Back in the ring, Tajiri is once again a wonderful dick, and he and Dreamer's similar spots make them a natural pairing, surprisingly. I liked the finish too, and didn't think Corino's interference was overwhelming given ECW's generally lax rules.

I like the starting with a brawl, but everyone getting out of the cage so easily kinda defeated the point. The play by play guy is really annoying (that Hell in a Cell reference was, um, misplaced). Also, Spankaholics? Dragon's dive is great, and I liked the big bumps in the finish. I also liked the energy generally. But on the whole, this felt sloppy and unfocused.

Yeah, this seems like a lot of the top level guys moving. Unless they're going to gut Smackdown, seems like it'll be close to a wholesale swap.

Kash finally has Bawitdaba! This gets me legit pumped to this day. Like the fire at the start from Kash, but Rhino goes over a little too easily for that arm drag. Rhino is a bit dull when controlling, but he's a lot of fun when countering Kash's offense. Fun little match.

That's an amazing story.

Overheard: "Break his arm and beat him the fucking stump!" during a wristlock. That Ki botch was brutal. It's so 2000 that he's like, "I know what I'll do to fix this - hit Blade super hard in the head with a chair!" Ric Blade jumping off a basketball hoop might be the most amusing place he jumped off, and only the 8th dumbest. Then they botch the pinfall and the music as well. This sucked.

I try to keep tabs enough to watch the first episode in the taping cycles, and then whatever follows up until the big event they're promoting. After the big event, the TV is brutally boring.

Here's an interesting litmus test - a friend of mine who watches Raw and Smackdown weekly and loves WWE enough that he attended Wrestlemania this year. And yet he watches basically nothing outside WWE - when we were talking about Nakamura debuting this week, he said he'd never seen one of his matches. He's never seen an ROH show. Is he a casual fan? I think what I'd say is that he's a hardcore WWE fan, but not a hard core "wrestling" fan. To be a hardcore wrestling fan involves appreciating, to at least some extent, the breadth of the genre - to be interested in at least some of indies, Japan, lucha, older territory wrestling, etc. And I do think someone who loves WWE but nothing else has a different perspective on wrestling than someone who watches a broader range of stuff.

Yes, for sure. It's far more likely they are dying ECW than on an upswing. They keep failing at elevating guys beyond a certain point (see Castle, Dalton).

Especially when it seems pretty clear the Hardys drew that number. However, the speed at which Scurll has shot up the ladder has shown that they don't need a big runup to get someone over if they find the right guys.

This was pretty fun. A bit messy at times (Ki's blown handspring kick especially), but they recovered and really took it to each other. Ki's moonsault to the floor was amazing, but this really picked up for me when Monsta Mack took over on offense. He really brought the stiffness and the violence, in particular the awesome Greetings from Asbury Park. Ki getting Mack up for the Ki Krusher looked terrific as a finish.

My memory suggests that Grimes' slot might have initially been Kintaro Kanemura. They definitely hyped this pretty heavily on the TV. The early part is a pretty slow brawl as they cut each other open. It's like they know they have to build to the explosion spots, but also that these fans will not tolerate a long wait for blood. Grimes busts out a frog... elbow? Certainly different. The first big spot looked... okay? I'm unclear on what the explosion is supposed to add beyond the falling into barbed wire. The second one lacking the explosion feels like a bummer, though - the visual of the explosion is fun.

I believe this is from the Convention Center in Asbury Park. That haze is really quite odd looking. They get a boring chant a minute in for working holds, as the ECW crowds just devolve further and further. Kash also gets a you fucked up chant on a really badly blown dive (which was admittedly groan worthy). Tapir is a wonderful dick in this, really using his kicks and chops effectively to get his character across. Kash was less good - seems like he might still be working out the character at this point. I'm not sure this reached ***, but Tajiri was definitely great.

Yeah, WWE has really crushed that market. If it's $10 for Wrestlemania, it just can't be $30 for ROH.

Thanks for the recs, will give CWF a whirl first.

The game show ones are actually something that would probably be fun to binge.

Is there a period where ROH TV was compelling on a week to week basis? Looking for a new/old wrestling TV show to binge, but I get the sense ROH has always focused on whole shows to the detriment of having a good TV show.