Migs

They also do GFW branded shows - maybe sold shows? - at things like state fairs. Saw ads for one when I was at the Nashville Flea last month.

They're a long way from finishing Smackdown, though.

Related - I can't believe they still don't have a feature for making playlists. Insane. They have years of TV and no good way for someone to watch, say, all the Sting matches if they get obsessed with him.

Also, it appears a 2009 episode was just added as well, so that year's probably coming next.

I had been watching some of the Punk stuff from 2008 recently. It really re-enforces how much the look of the top of the card has changed over the last 10 years. Punk looked small against basically everyone he faced; now Balor, Rollins, etc. can stand up to everybody.

He's also talked about watching some Vancouver as a kid.

Holy shit, there's a 2000 page version that exists? I would be in for that for sure.

That Tajiri/Corino match is absolutely brutal (in a good way) where the heel Corino is basically turned face because of the sympathy from a crowd seemingly genuinely fearful of his long term health. A great shout for this topic, as I would struggle to call it a 'great match' per se (I do think it's very good mind) but a real visceral spectacle. Watching it, Tajiri really should have been pushed into the main event in ECW in 2000. Him dishing out punishment versus an unstoppable monster Rhino on top would've been a great rivalry if the company had lasted. Similar sentiment for the Corino match with Jerry Lynn at Heatwave (the one where Lynn writes DIE in Corino's blood on his chest). Corino's match against Justin Credible at the Hammerstein in August would also fit this thread. On an ECW note - the Dudleys-Balls/Spike matches from the summer of '99 are probably a little too repetitive to go over ****, but damn are they relentlessly entertaining.

Watched a bit of Smackdown last night. Have they regularly been chopping up the main events that badly with commercials? Cutting the beginning and then also putting a long one in the body of the match seemed excessive.

I assume TNA has comps with the highlights for Styles for those of us who've mostly avoided TNA over the years? Might be worth checking out.

Now let's hope they build to Styles-Cena III at Wrestlemania.

Great finish.

Hey look, a storyline about a wrestler needing to win a match, as opposed to "stealing the show" or "having a moment", actually resonated with fans. And then he won the match and people cheered!

They've been able to make people in them having a good match with Ibushi - so my thinking is they have to use him all the way through the tournament. I'd also bet on Metallic pulling the upset in the finals.

Well, that fucking sucks. The 2001 dark match was awesome for what it was.Well, I think we all saw it, some watched it more than once, and there it all was after everyone interested saw it. Getting no more views. Something tells me that the LBOA is gonna have more staying power than a Daniel Bryan dark match. And even if it doesn't, it's out there now. It'll be readily available. Even if weirdos feel the need to dissect it with a skewed, annoying , and downright awful eye. That should be poked out. FWIW, some of the more recent Beyond The Ring entries have been the match anthology ones. Perhaps they will find its way on a Bryan release (I think they were on Bryan's DVDs). Either way, that's something that I wish on demand streaming services would provide. The DVD extras, whether its deleted/bonus scenes, exclusive docs or commentary tracks. It'd be nice if all were part of the package you'd get for the show or movie you are watching. I believe that dark match is on the sneak preview of the Bryan DVD on the network.

I also think Reigns and Rusev are better workers for foregoing the workrate style. Would they be more appreciated if they had just been in ROH for a year before WWE? To an extent. See, e.g., Moose.

There's an 89 episode that was accidentally not aired, I want to say in June. If there's no gaps in 89, there's a new one in there.

They've announced this week's show will be Ibushi-Kendrick and Metallik-Tozawa.

TV shows often have episodes where one plot is ending, one is starting, one is advanced, etc. That doesn't prevent the discussion of a complete episode.

Shouldn't mastery of a crowd be considered separately for territory bookers and national bookers? A territory booker had a much narrower range of crowds to book to. Vince Sr. mastered Boston to DC, Bill Watts mastered Louisiana and Texas... both of which are relatively homogenous when compared with booking for national crowds. Vince Jr, Crockett/Dusty, and Bischoff had a much higher degree of difficulty. As has been noted in this thread, Crockett/Dusty really struggled when expanding out of their base, while Vince Jr. did much better.