C.S.

That's unfortunate, but it at least gives me more time to watch and review the sweet-ass Rockers/Powers of Pain match soup23 gave me last week.

I'm behind on last week's match (but I'll get around to it, I promise!), and my last two partners haven't reviewed the matches I sent them (unless I missed their posts), so I'm wondering if I have crappy taste in matches. I'll PM you in the next day or two, topropepodcast.

Now on WWE.com, which makes it more "official" I guess. http://www.wwe.com/article/enzo-amore-suspended

The mentally ill, ill-tempered, possibly drug-addicted Alberto El Patron apologized to Triple H and blamed Paige for his previous comments. From Reddit user NarcisticPunk: The website source is in Spanish. I used an English translator so the quotes may be a little off. I provided the link at the end of the post. Alberto El Patron recently spoke with mediotiempo about a potential return to WWE. He said the following regarding Triple H and comments he made last year regarding him: “I apologize for Triple H in the issues that we were when I was with my relationship with my former spouse. She and her entire family made me believe that those who affected our relationship were them, specifically him. She made me believe that the videos (compromising of the fighter) and that's all that was out was on the part of Triple H and the company. In his time believed him because he was my partner, it's obvious I defended to the hilt, and then things were different and I apologize with him and his family and understood”. He went onto say that he thinks and hopes he can return to WWE in 2019 before he retires in 2020: “I see very difficult to in 2018, but in 2019 before I go I will definitely do something with them, we shook hands and all is well now. Time heals the wounds”. http://www.mediotiempo.com/lucha-libre/2018/01/18/me-equivoque-y-me-disculpe-con-wwe-alberto-el-patron

Link to this celebrity gossip site?

Wahoos Leg assigned me Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen from AJPW on September 23rd, 1981. His take on the match: "pro wrestling as a kaiju monster movie." That is about as perfect a description as there could ever be. Arnold Skaaland is at ringside for Andre as his manager. The crowd is white hot from the get-go! This is far from the dominant Andre the Giant performance I thought I'd see. Even though there's obviously a size difference between Andre and Hansen, they are equals throughout the match - they go tit-for-tat all the way. It begins with them clubbing the shit out of each other! What struck me the most was the fantastic selling and agility of both men. I was expecting more of a lumbering monster match, but that's definitely not the case here. BTW, if you think Hulk Hogan was the first wrestler to bodyslam Andre, think again! Stan Hansen does it with ease here. In fact, whenever he has the advantage, he tosses Andre around like a ragdoll. And Andre does the same to Stan as well. During the middle of the match, it's seemingly stopped momentarily and officials jump in. Since I don't understand Japanese, I'm not sure what that was all about. After a spell, the match continues. The finish seems sudden. Outside the ring, Andre seemingly reaches under the apron (proving that's not a new spot) and pulls out an elbow pad. Am I to assume the elbow pad is loaded? Who knows. Back inside the ring, Andre uses his loaded (?) elbow to clothesline the referee for no reason that I can see. But what the heck, Andre and Skaaland are obviously the heels here, so why not? The match is thrown out. Andre and Hansen brawl wildly as officials storm in. Awesome stuff! Today's "great workers" could learn a lot from a match like this about how to really work. Note: I've also posted this here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/24308-andre-the-giant-vs-stan-hansen-njpw-bloody-fight-series-092381/

In the Match Review Trades Thread, Wahoos Leg assigned me Andre the Giant vs. Stan Hansen from AJPW on September 23rd, 1981. His take on the match: "pro wrestling as a kaiju monster movie." That is about as perfect a description as there could ever be. Arnold Skaaland is at ringside for Andre as his manager. The crowd is white hot from the get-go! This is far from the dominant Andre the Giant performance I thought I'd see. Even though there's obviously a size difference between Andre and Hansen, they are equals throughout the match - they go tit-for-tat all the way. It begins with them clubbing the shit out of each other! What struck me the most was the fantastic selling and agility of both men. I was expecting more of a lumbering monster match, but that's definitely not the case here. BTW, if you think Hulk Hogan was the first wrestler to bodyslam Andre, think again! Stan Hansen does it with ease here. In fact, whenever he has the advantage, he tosses Andre around like a ragdoll. And Andre does the same to Stan as well. During the middle of the match, it's seemingly stopped momentarily and officials jump in. Since I don't understand Japanese, I'm not sure what that was all about. After a spell, the match continues. The finish seems sudden. Outside the ring, Andre seemingly reaches under the apron (proving that's not a new spot) and pulls out an elbow pad. Am I to assume the elbow pad is loaded? Who knows. Back inside the ring, Andre uses his loaded (?) elbow to clothesline the referee for no reason that I can see. But what the heck, Andre and Skaaland are obviously the heels here, so why not? The match is thrown out. Andre and Hansen brawl wildly as officials storm in. Awesome stuff! Today's "great workers" could learn a lot from a match like this about how to really work. Note: I didn't read any other responses in this thread ahead of time because I didn't want to be inadvertently influenced by anyone else's opinions.

I hope this doesn't lead to a downward spiral for Paige. How much is Sloppy Sasha to blame, if any?

I hope this doesn't lead to a downward spiral for Paige. How much is Sloppy Sasha to blame, if any?

What happened to Meltzer?

For all of the great things I hear about the Briscoes, it's a shame they probably torpedoed their big league chances by acting like backward homophobes. No sympathy from me though. They deserve to be marginalized to the indy ghettos of wrestling for the rest of their careers.

But I said neither. I don't blame Vince and I didn't say everyone carries Nakamura, though I can see how my post could be misconstrued as such. Rather, I was pointing out how good AJ is as a carrier. If we get the same Nak we've been getting all along, it will be another AJ carry-job. If Nak turns up the volume though, of course it'll be tremendous. Like I said, I started out red hot for Nak. I was super into him after that Sami Zayn match. But it didn't take long for the bloom to fall off the rose, for all of the reasons already mentioned by me and several others in this thread.

Don't know - didn't see it - and it doesn't change the fact that Nakamura has become a phone book spokesperson on Smackdown.

Did who carry who? I hate he/him posts without any reference to who he and him are supposed to be. I mentioned a half-dozen people in my post.

I wonder if part of the reason for that is because he's wrestling in front of the "smart" (but really dumb as rocks) ROH audience, who expects everyone be a "good worker" (meaning, wrestle in an indy-riffic spot monkey style). I'd love to see him re-molded in NXT, where Triple H and the trainers there would be smart enough to re-calibrate his style.

Silas Young was one of the few wrestlers that impressed me in my sporadic ROH viewings. I place a higher value on having the total package though. In addition to being decent in the ring, he also has a fantastic character. Most of these other "super workers" that have no character, facials, or crowd interactions don't do a thing for me. Silas Young is one of the very few who could succeed on Raw or Smackdown. BTW, this is not meant as a slight against any of the other wrestlers you mentioned - most of whom I haven't even seen yet - just my specific impressions of Young from a show I watched a few months ago. As for Gotch, I get the impression from the few "shoot interview" clips I've seen is that he has a bad attitude and was his own worst enemy at times. Whether that's actually the case, who knows, but I don't think he's doing himself any favors by sticking to his failed WWE gimmick. It just makes him look like a big league castoff instead of someone fresh and interesting who has been revitalized on the indy scene. For all of the criticisms I and others have leveled against Cody Rhodes, the one thing you cannot argue is that he has changed things up and raised his stock. Grimm seems to be doing more of the same ol' same ol' that didn't exactly work for him in the first place.

Nakamura has no business winning the Royal Rumble or "main eventing" WrestleMania (it wouldn't be a true main event because Smackdown will forever be treated as the castoff b-brand no matter what), and I say that as someone who was red hot for him after his NXT debut against Sami Zayn. He truly seemed like something special. However, even before his main roster call-up, he was already losing his shine. Tepid matches/lack of chemistry against overrated workers like Samoa Joe and Bobby Roode didn't help, but those were masterpieces compared to what we've seen since (except maybe the Cena match, which was good but not great). Granted, there's only so much you can do with "That Indian Guy" but Nakamura has clearly been phoning it in. If he wins the Royal Rumble, get ready to hear something worse than boos: crickets. No one will react or care. Sure, he'd have a banger of a match against AJ Styles. Everyone would be quick to credit Nak for "going big" on the big stage. But no, it would be AJ carrying his ass and delivering a good match because AJ almost always delivers good matches (unless it's against KO). Even the lazy lump of shit Brock Lesnar looked good against AJ. At this point, AJ Styles could take Disco Inferno to a five-star (well, okay, maybe 3 and 3/4) match at WrestleMania.

I completely forgot to mention that I think being a heel really helps Sabre. I can envision him being a Bret Hart-style babyface down the road, once he gets more experience and seasoning - but for right now, being a heel suits his style more.

AstroBoy assigned me Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tanahashi from NJPW G1 Climax on 07/17/17. He admitted to digging into my posting history, where I've been very vocal about my dislike of Zack Sabre Jr. based on what I saw of him in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. If this match was given to me with the intention of changing my mind about ZSJ, it mostly succeeded. First, the things I still don't like about ZSJ: His offense still looks way too "light" at times, and he's clearly still very young and green in places. At this point, all he does is wrestle - there's very little in the way of character work, facial expressions, or crowd interactions. With that said, I walked away from the match thinking he's one of the most creative wrestlers I've ever seen. His submission game is masterful to watch. Not everything looked impactful, but when he was bending Tanahashi's fingers, etc., you better believe I was wincing. He's doing things in ways no one else is, and I have to tip my hat to him for that. It's great fun to watch all of the different locks and traps he devises. One particular spot I liked was Sabre turning a Tanahashi legdrop into a submission. With a few more years of experience and seasoning, ZSJ has the potential to become something really special. Some would argue he's already there, and in some ways, that's true. But he's still very young yet and still needs seasoning in certain areas. For example, Tanahashi had an injured arm, which Zack didn't really focus on too much until the end (or least he didn't make that focus obvious to me). Still, I'm glad it at least played a role in the finish. ZSJ removing Tanahashi's arm cast and unwrapping his bandages was a nice touch. I went into this match completely cold, knowing very little about ZSJ outside of what I saw in the CWC, and even less about Tanahashi other than the raves I've read online. I had no idea where this was situated in the G1 Climax, what title Tanahashi was holding, or if ZSJ walked away with said title because he won. None of that really matters though. I was expecting to be blown away by Tanahashi, and...well, I wasn't. The fans seemed quite taken with him, but he came across to me like Terry Taylor wearing a colorful costume. No matter what Taylor wore, he was still going to be one of the least interesting and least charismatic wrestlers on the card (outside of his Taylor Made Man run with Alexandra York and tag team with Greg Valentine - those ruled!). Tanahashi struck me the same way. I don't know if it was a clash of styles, or Tanahashi purposely slowing down and looking weak to sell his injury (or if it was a legit injury), but he didn't really show me much. This was The Zack Sabre Jr. Show all the way, to my surprise. Now that I've said all of that, I'm sure I've opened myself up to being assigned a Tanahashi match in the next round. Everything written above was also posted here: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/38860-hiroshi-tanahashi-vs-zack-sabre-jr-njpw-g1-climax-071717/&do=findComment&comment=5827078 (Note: I purposely avoided reading any of the posts in that thread ahead of time because I didn't want my own initial impressions and opinions influenced in any way.)

In the Match Reviews Trade thread, AstroBoy assigned me Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Tanahashi from NJPW G1 Climax on 07/17/17. He admitted to digging into my posting history, where I've been very vocal about my dislike of Zack Sabre Jr. based on what I saw of him in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic. If this match was given to me with the intention of changing my mind about ZSJ, it mostly succeeded. First, the things I still don't like about ZSJ: His offense still looks way too "light" at times, and he's clearly still very young and green in places. At this point, all he does is wrestle - there's very little in the way of character work, facial expressions, or crowd interactions. With that said, I walked away from the match thinking he's one of the most creative wrestlers I've ever seen. His submission game is masterful to watch. Not everything looked impactful, but when he was bending Tanahashi's fingers, etc., you better believe I was wincing. He's doing things in ways no one else is, and I have to tip my hat to him for that. It's great fun to watch all of the different locks and traps he devises. One particular spot I liked was Sabre turning a Tanahashi legdrop into a submission. With a few more years of experience and seasoning, ZSJ has the potential to become something really special. Some would argue he's already there, and in some ways, that's true. But he's still very young yet and still needs seasoning in certain areas. For example, Tanahashi had an injured arm, which Zack didn't really focus on too much until the end (or least he didn't make that focus obvious to me). Still, I'm glad it at least played a role in the finish. ZSJ removing Tanahashi's arm cast and unwrapping his bandages was a nice touch. I went into this match completely cold, knowing very little about ZSJ outside of what I saw in the CWC, and even less about Tanahashi other than the raves I've read online. I had no idea where this was situated in the G1 Climax, what title Tanahashi was holding, or if ZSJ walked away with said title because he won. None of that really matters though. I was expecting to be blown away by Tanahashi, and...well, I wasn't. The fans seemed quite taken with him, but he came across to me like Terry Taylor wearing a colorful costume. No matter what Taylor wore, he was still going to be one of the least interesting and least charismatic wrestlers on the card (outside of his Taylor Made Man run with Alexandra York and tag team with Greg Valentine - those ruled!). Tanahashi struck me the same way. I don't know if it was a clash of styles, or Tanahashi purposely slowing down and looking weak to sell his injury (or if it was a legit injury), but he didn't really show me much. This was The Zack Sabre Jr. Show all the way, to my surprise. Now that I've said all of that, I'm sure I've opened myself up to being assigned a Tanahashi match in the next round. (Note: I purposely avoided reading any of the posts above this one ahead of time because I didn't want my own initial impressions and opinions influenced in any way.)

You asked me this, but Loss beat me to the punch. I'm sure I can think of others too, but the point has been made. It might be, but I'd say Cody and Brandi on the same show gave Jericho a run for his money. I didn't think Ibushi vs. Cody was a great match, but it was a lot of fun because of Brandi and Cody's heeling.

Really?! And you guys accuse Meltzer of being too easy on Japan. Look, the match was fun, very entertaining, and Jericho deserves more of the lion's share of the credit for that with his great heel work. No doubt, he surprised people and exceeded expectations. But calling it the best match of his career is a major stretch IMO. If this same match happened on a WWE PPV or NXT show, no one would be gushing about it nearly as much. I guess Meltz was onto something with his ridiculous "the match is better because it's in Japan" talking point (or whatever the hell he said that one time), because some of you are parroting the exact same sort of thinking. I hesitated even posting this, because I'm not looking to dampen anyone's excitement or shit on a super-fun match - I really enjoyed it too - but the hyperbole on this board can sometimes be excessive. (Another example: I remember everyone acting like the match where Rusev beat Sheamus for the U.S. Title was one of the greatest matches they'd seen in years, when in reality, it was just a fun hoss brawl and nothing more.) Edit: If you meant it was the best match of Omega's career, disregard this entire post, haha - I am not familiar enough with Omega's matches to argue against that.

I watched it last night before bed. While I didn't consider it a great match like some of you, it was a hell of a lot more fun than I thought it would be - and, shockingly, I credit Cody and Brandi Rhodes with that. They've turned into an absolutely awesome heel pairing. The spot where Brandi faked being knocked out, Kota Ibushi being her knight in shining armor, and Cody taking advantage of the situation and laughing with Brandi afterward - incredible! And Cody's bleached blond hair? I hope he never gets rid of it and wish he had done that ten years ago. If he grows a sleazy brown mustache with it, I'll love him for life. Cody in the WWE felt like an incomplete package. Cody cosplaying as an '80s-style NWA Champion in ROH felt like an incomplete package. This Cody, with Brandi by his side, finally feels like a finished product.

Without spoiling the result (I've managed to avoid finding out who won and lost), was Cody vs. Kota Ibushi worth bothering with? It has ZERO buzz compared to Jericho-Omega and the Naito match. Ibushi looked incredible in the CWC and so did all of his opponents. Does that streak stop cold with Cody?

I'm really glad you enjoyed the match. It was one of the first ones I watched on the Network. Just the sheer spectacle of it alone intrigued me, but I wasn't expecting a match nearly as fun and well-worked as this one ended up being. For all of the revisionist history people spew about the "limitations" of wrestlers like Andre and Kamala, they knew their characters backwards and forwards - more than most of the "great workers" today who don't have a prayer of being able to connect with the audience the same way these old masters did.