RazorbladeKiss87

5 1/2 is...interesting. Not surprising based on the way he was talking about the match on WOR after. I really got into the match watching it live (on tv, wasn't able to go to NY/NJ this year) and my immediate reaction was that it was a total 5 star match. I will say this though: I'm never going to rewatch it. If I watched it in a vacuum, knowing the result and everything, it would not have been a five star match. As an "in the moment" thing, I loved it. I bought into it. I was very hyped on it. I just know that it won't have the same effect on a rewatch. It's a perfect argument for "context is king" as Bischoff is fond of saying.

So far the only full show I've watched has been Takeover but I've skimmed most of the shows that aired over the weekend. Takeover was insane. The low-point was the Women's Championship, and even that was a pretty great match. I'll save my thoughts on that show for the Takeover thread and use this post to talk about the indie stuff I've watched. One big takeaway for me so far is that I really do not like or get Orange Cassidy. Everything about his gimmick turns me off. It comes off as a bit "try-hard" which is ironic given the whole point of his gimmick. Maybe I'm being an old man shouting at the clouds but he really exposes the business in a manner that I actively hate. If he was relegated to Chikara or some other promotion I won't be watching, that'd be fine, but he's in a bunch of promotions that I otherwise would be interested in watching. Speaking of Chikara, that ladder match may be the sleeper hit of the weekend for me. I need to watch it again as I was very tired the other night when I sat down to watch it. I didn't check out the rest of the card yet but I wouldn't mind if Chikara were to come back and be a promotion I want to see again. ROH/NJPW...this show was pretty bad for the first half. Cobb/Ospreay was good but never seemed to hit its full potential. I'm guessing there will be some sort of rematch and hopefully they will get enough time to show something. Rush/Castle wasn't even a match. I'm hoping Castle goes away to heal whatever injuries he has lingering. He can come back with a heel edge and it'll be good. WOH match wasn't anything to write home about. Kline's wrestling gear wasn't flattering. Her wrestling skills don't seem to match her gimmick of being "the gatekeeper." Bringing in TNA castoffs isn't a great look either, especially when Madison Rayne just left to go back to Impact. Street fight wasn't much, especially coming so quickly after the tag team war at the 17th Anniversary PPV. The Jr. 3way was the last thing I watched and it seemed like the show was gaining momentum from there. I'm hoping by the middle of next week to have had some time to sit down and digest most, if not all, of the indie shows from this past week/weekend.

This. There would be no quicker way to get me to stop caring about this promotion. This past weekend's Takeover may have been the best so far, in-ring, but I had to watch it on mute at points.

Glad to hear this. It's not an exaggeration when I say I remember nothing about the Mania XX episode. I'll never cut it out entirely because I work mornings in a kitchen by myself and have 8+ hours to listen and music just doesn't help me get my work done.

This was a fun match but kind of a mess, with guys seemingly out of place a lot, leading to random seeming moves. Taka/Sasuke worked best together. I really liked the double lariat Doomsday Device style move that the heels pulled out.

Fun thread to revisit. I'm working my list out as I type. I think it may be a bit WWE focused (or at least accessible on the WWE Network focused) for the moment as most of my discs are in storage until I make a more permanent move but we'll see. I'm going to number these but the numbers are just for organizational purposes. 1. Samoa Joe- Joe's been one of my favorites since the moment I saw him way back when I was in high school. I recently found the ROH "Best in the World" dvd at a resale shop in town so I rewatched Joe/Kobashi for the first time in years. It holds up brilliantly. I will fully admit that my knowledge of Japanese wrestling is tiny so I don't know how it ranks for Kobashi matches but, in my opinion, it's one of the great ROH matches. I've also been going back to watch his NXT/WWE run and even when his spot on the card was iffy, his matches were fun. I'm really hoping we get Joe/Cena at Mania. 2. L.A. Park- He's a skeleton who throws punches, swings chairs, sometimes does fat guy dives and dances. I don't think there's a whole lot more I need to say about him. My main aim in watching wrestling lately has just been to throw stuff on and have a good time. I'm not looking to get too in depth in analysis or psychology. My outside life has been really stressful and wrestling is my escape. Park has been a great help in forgetting my troubles. 3. Daniel Bryan- He would be in my all-time top 5 too as I really started to get into indie and foreign wrestling around the time Dragon was coming up. I latched onto his work and have been along for the ride ever since. "The New" Daniel Bryan, the Planet's Champion, is such a great douche heel and his work is perfect for both a babyface run and a heel run. I skim RAW but thanks to Bryan & Co., I watch all of Smackdown. 4. Necro Butcher- Another early 2000s indie hero of mine. I found a disc in a box I was packing that had his brawl from Zero-One with Tanaka and that jumpstarted another Necro Butcher dive for me. One of those guys who really brought an aura with him to every match. I love crazy brawlers and he is perfect for my tastes. Just rewatched the first match with Joe and it still holds up in brutality. 5. The Shield- I started gearing up for the Fastlane main event by reliving the first few months of these guys on the main roster. I was so hyped on them at that point and it's a lot of fun reliving it. I thought the Fastlane match was a good "greatest hits" type match and was a really fitting way for them to go out as a group (if that is indeed what is happening...the commentary was a little heavy handed about Dean).

Ooof, speed reading isn't always your friend. You dislike him more than Lawler? When I was a teenage boy, I thought the King was great. Listening back....it's just embarrassing. Sad thing is, when he gets serious he can actually be pretty decent.

I don't care for him at all but he is slightly above Mauro for me.

Nia has some of the ugliest gear I've ever seen.

Just got off work so I've missed everything except the end of the U.S. Title match. Will be starting over when the show ends. May not be anything but at the end of the match Graves called Rey "the greatest mask of all time." Seems like he could be sowing the seeds for some form of mask vs hair match. Or I could be reading too much into it. Seems pointless since he lost it in a show that is easy to call up on the Network but who knows?

In AEW they will have the benefit of being bigger than most (all?) of the roster which was a big component (from what I saw, I didn't follow it super closely) of their success in NJPW. I'd like to see them end up there, personally.

Are the watch-alongs archived? I work weird hours so I doubt I'd be able to catch them live.

I haven't watched this match since it occurred. I loved it at the time but I was also 12. I'm glad to report that for the most part it held up, at least until the end. The opening in the cell was very good/great. I thought Cactus and Hunter worked one of the better "inside the Cell" portions that I remember. At times it was very hard to watch due to the brutality. Mick's knee first into the steps bump makes me cringe every time he does it. I liked that they kept returning to Cactus wanting to take things outside the confines of the Cell but didn't ever spend a ton of time on it. Once they went outside of the Cell, my enjoyment decreased. I'm just not a fan of the outside the Cell stuff in any of these matches and really, KotR set a precedent for Cactus in the Cell that I didn't want to see topped. The brawling on the top of the Cell was light (by necessity I'm guessing but still) and the gimmicked mat kinda killed the ending bump for me. A big aspect that doesn't hold up is the commentary. King never bothered me as a kid but was nearly unbearable here. JR's call was the kind of "forced epic" that kind of sounded like a "greatest hits" re-recording of his 1998 Cell call.

I've been up and down on Lethal over the years. I'm currently down on him. He just feels stale right now and I don't think that's a good thing for ROH at this point in time. They really need to run with someone new and exciting after losing the Elite. I just watched this week's tv, sort of. I skimmed the first match as neither guy really does anything for me. Enjoyed the Bandido/Haskins match. It wasn't mind-blowing but it was a decent tv match. It's actually the first I've seen of Bandido so I'll be checking him out some more. If anyone in here has some suggestions for what to watch, I'd appreciate it.

Getting offended is just Grimmas' gimmick.

The only time in the past few years I was into the song was the Takeover where they had Code Orange perform. They stood out a lot being a legit hardcore band.

I like Don Callis as an announcer, most of the time. I'm not a big fan of his during Omega matches.

Ibushi/Ospreay was fun. I have only been half paying attention though, if we're being honest, due to a friend having an anxiety issue and wanting to have a skype chat. So, I'll be going back later today to watch the undercard. From what I've watched though, nothing has been outstanding. Just good. Thought Okada/White would be worked differently but I guess Jericho/Naito will be the hate filled brawl.

That's good since we see some combo of them every month it seems like.

I am finally watching the Park/Fenix/Pentagon vs. Rush/Briscoes match, which makes the official anniversary card that much more disappointing. What a brawl. Park's outfit is boss. No matter what I will always have a soft spot for Park. A fat skeleton who brawls? My perfect wrestler.

This is from a few episodes ago but if there's ever another BtS clips/review show, Bix's confusion over an air compressor needs to be in it.

Decent match because it cuts down (to a degree) on the really bad tendencies both have, mainly showboating for RVD and botching/lying around for Sabu. At age 12, I ate this stuff up. As it is, I still had fun watching it. Right before he puts RVD through the table on the guard rail, I swear I could see Sabu tell himself this was a bad idea, one of the only times I've noticed that.

Jesus. I have no memory of Cena bleeding like that. What match is that from?