Rah

Super Porky & Maximo Carlos Colon Carlito Colon (43 reigns between them!) Dos Caras & Alberto Del Rio Fritz and Kerry Von Erich

Sheamus, Drew McIntyre and Barrett were relatively high profile wrestlers, and I imagine their origins had a play in that. Even Justin Gabriel got a main event win here!

There's a lot of hatred for Joey Ryan over the spot but nothing really trickles down to the other wrestlers that take the bump, the promoters that book him and the fans that it is over with. It's not as if he's alone in destroying the sanctity of wrestling. There was a point above that Ryan trained with Joe and Danielson, and the latter two are world champions and he isn't. Frankly, Ryan doesn't have the wrestling capability to be on their level - those two are elite level workers and grew a following because of it and their ability to engage the crowd. If Joey had stuck to that style, bulked up a bit and tried to take himself seriously he'd be Doug Williams. Technically proficient wrestler, didn't really break any box-office records. El-P was correct, he found his niche, played to his strengths and he got himself over. That's the end-goal as his job. I loathe the move but more power to him. Besides, after watching his Youshoot interview, he seems like a super swell guy. Something quite rare in wrestling, people say.

Starts at 6:45

Austin went into detail on one of his podcasts that he did with Jim Johnston (it's worth a listen for his reasoning behind many of his themes). Basically, this all started when Austin approached Johnston with a copy of Bulls on Parade by Rage Against The Machine as a template for his new theme song. It took Johnston eight hours to finalise what we know today, and those glass shatters were only added in at the end of production. Johnston basically wanted a noise that captured an "oh shit!" from the crowd and thought glass shattering evoked that sense of something bad happening. It's actually an amalgam of three different noises: glass shattering, a car crash and an explosion. You can't really hear the other two noises due to the higher frequency of the glass shattering.

I find myself listening to these a lot while I drive: Terry Funk's AJPW theme, Shane's Here Comes The Money, Eddie Guerrero's Viva La Raza, Cesaro's Miracle, Nakamura's Subconscious and Mark Henry's Somebody. Myzteziz's original Ameno is dope af, too. As far as terrible music goes: Gronda 2's 6th Gate/Dance With The Devil (terrible wrestler, terrible theme song) Big Mami's Kulikitaka Cesaro's Swiss Made (his current theme) - I'm still struggling to understand how this was greenlit

So that's what Maddox and Woods were both doing in that hotel room then. What does her having consensual sex before she was even with Del Rio have to do with anything? It's a play on Sek69's words. That people in the company (Maddox/Woods) tried to help her and she returned the favor by blowing them off (orally).

Paige and Delberto seem to be back in love, again, and explained "their side" of things on Bully Ray's podcast The part on being passionate in either a positive or negative way seems a bit dubious but the paragraph in relation to how Paige's family feels and Delberto's differentation between his family's method of reacting and hers is... yeah. I'm without actual context, and maybe I'm gut-reading too far into things, but that doesn't seem healthy to me.

When Necro works deathmatches I wince at the thought. There was also a deathmatch from some shitty unknown fed between (I believe) Chaos and Vic Grimes where needles were stuck UNDERNEATH the nails of one of the wrestlers. I don't think I've ever been more freaked out over any other spot in wrestling as I was with that one.

The only title match they have on record during that time is 9th March 1994 in Arena Mexico. Where did we come on April?

William Regal and Virus (CMLL).

They tagged together in 2004, in JAPW (I think).

Same shit, different name, mate.

I had a crazy theory all those years ago that GFW was just a shell company to rebrand TNA and lose the stigma attached to the name. They'd slowly phase out Dixie, Jarrett would take back control of the promotion and then they'd present themselves as a new show with new potential. That all happened (in one way or another), except for the renaming. If this is one step closer to completing that theory, then TNA's the most TNA company alive.

Naito is apparently the biggest merchandise seller that they have, so between Okada and him I'd guess things are doing ok. Though is NJPW also at the same point as WWE where the brand is the draw, not the wrestlers? If so, where does that leave decisions like fan voting on Dome mains? Something that ironically catalysed Naito's surge in popularity.

Andre vs Strong Kobayashi. Don't know which match that is, but it's not their 06/05/1972 match (which is online).

I’m actually glad that there’s only one more Vader match on this set, simply because it means my heart won’t have its hopes continually dashed by his matches. While I love the fact that AJPW finally managed to put together some dream Vader pairings, the fact that it would come years after Vader’s peak is certainly something that outweighs the positives. Vader’s rib work here was most certainly focused, with Kobashi doing some great selling for the big man, but it never quite raised itself beyond that. While it is nice to see Kobashi work from under Vader, lasting all of 18 minutes in what was, arguably, an extended squash by surviving endless Vader bombs, chokeslams, kicks, guardrail drops and liver punches took away the novelty of Kobashi’s hope spots as it all became too apparent that he would win. The fact that Kobashi would make the win with only a small amount of offence (comparatively) didn’t sit well with me, either. Disappointing.

Despite not seeing any Akiyama matches from earlier in his career, I still had exceptionally high expectations for this. Despite that, however, this match lived up and surpassed anything I could have honestly expected. Every move here has a purpose, and nothing is wasted or filler outside of their respective target spots. Akiyama, especially, works Misawa’s neck like the god of wrestling and is relentless in his barrage of heavy-hitting work. Misawa, of course, is no slouch, either, and delivers a great foil in the moments of Akiyama not being in control. Almost surprisingly, for myself, at least, this was Akiyama’s shining ground and he worked so unbelievably great here. Like I’ve stated, I’ve not watched much of his non-contemporary work, and this may be testament to this, but I cannot think of a match in which Akiyama delivers a performance anywhere near as good as this. He works his control spots superbly, and is a great seller for Misawa’s own comebacks and controls.

What’s a BJPW match without one of the wrestler’s pretending to jack off or blow a light tube? What’s a BJPW match with weak chair shots? The answer to both of those questions is “shit”, obviously. I’m sure this was okay, but I had to rewind four times just to try understand what I missed from zoning out. This really could not suck me in, and its violence did nothing for me, either.

This started off really well with Kanemoto on offence, but quickly lost itself afterward. I thought AKIRA’s strategy of rushing Kanemoto at the beginning being foiled by his own jacket acting as leverage was a great play in getting Kanemoto in control. The constant knee-work was also really enjoyable but once AKIRA got a hold of his own knee-work it almost seemed as if Kanemoto purposefully derailed their match. Here’s a guy who now sells his pre-injured/not 100% knee like death, yet he’s quick to jump around or purposefully tweak his holds as if to visually highlight his no-selling (the bridge comes to mind in this). Ugh.

I wouldn’t be surprised if KAORU suffered a concussion due to this match; Aja absolutely rattled her with vicious unprotected shots minutes into it. Not that I particularly enjoyed witnessing it, though, as Kong running full speed, with KAORU in tow, across the arena only to use the momentum in slamming KAORU’s head into the wall was sickening. KAORU isn’t without her bloodlust, either, though. She ensures she makes small tweaks in her revenge spots to add extra damage (for instance, she stomps on the wood that cracked her open to create splinters that would rip into Kong’s head when she swung it at her face). She not only starts grating the board against Kong’s arm but also ensures the corner of the board pushes deeply into Kong’s hand and plays against Kong’s strong punches. Both KAORU’s face and Kong’s sliced arm sell the violence of the match, but the monster Kong screaming in agonizing pain just tips it that much more. This may be quite simple in its structure (going from Kong control to KAORU and back to Kong) but it made each transition logical. KAORU losing her upper-hand thanks to a missed board attack, and slicing her hand on the splinters, was a great little touch and one I can wholly buy in allowing Kong to brute-strength her way back to a win.

This was a match of two halves. Both Kobashi and Kawada are masters at their trade at this point, and you can see that in how they form their matches. For the most part, they create the allusion of reality within their holds. Their facials and body expressions sell even the most simplest of sleepers to us as the audience. Kawada so visibly contorting his face when Kobashi has him down can do nothing other than driving the vocal crowd into rallying behind him and screaming for him to make his comeback. Yet, sadly, both men would walk a fine line between creating drama through emotions and through high-impact moves to pop the crowd rather than logically fleshing them out. Kobashi, for instance, works a beautiful upper game on Kawada yet when Kawada makes the enziguiri to Kenta on the apron, Kobashi simply acts as if nothing had happened and followed it with a deathly lariat. Fighting spirit is a wondrous tool to use within the Japanese setting (hell, in any wrestling match), yet it’s one that is far too relied upon in moments that do not need it or, as is most often the case, a tool that is used in too much of a contrived manner. This would be the last encounter between these two all-time great wrestlers which, considering, is a sad fact of reality. In what I would personally have hoped to be a great culmination to their meetings, the match rather delivers an allusion to a gourmet meal that’s sadly been tainted with the junk food of contemporary Japanese wrestling.

I think what was most exemplary in this bout was Sasaki wrestling with a high fever. This was a good Dome main, that built itself well and created the aura of Sasaki being the, now, bigger ace but it didn’t quite break that ceiling. They delivered a myriad of closed punches, especially to start, but, at the very least, the move was kept important and both men sold them as they should be. The same goes for their chop exchanges. When the flow hits the mid-point, in setting up Tenryu’s heat section, the match starts to get a bit nutty. From powerbombs, to Frankensteiners to suplexes, both men are hell-bent on one-upping the other with vicious tendency. I wasn’t particularly paying attention to the first, but the second enziguiri didn’t come clean. At least that nitpick can act into the pivot of control, though, in that the first allowed Tenryu to sweep up, yet the second allowed for Sasaki to finish things off. Worthwhile 15 minutes, but it wasn’t the best match on the card and will not be something I’d come back to in a hurry.

Years after his introduction to NJPW, and the beginning of his heated feud with Hashi, Ogawa is still running rampant throughout the promotion and Hashimoto still hates his fucking guts. The opening moments elicited a “what the hell am I watching?!” reaction due to the Murakami storming out the gates and beating the living shit out of Iizuka. I mean, the fight is so intense that Inoki has to enter the ring, attired with a pimping white tracksuit, and threaten each man with a large stick. UNREAL~! Hash takes no prisoners, either, in his quest to fight Ogawa. Sensing Murakami won’t let up any time soon, Hashimoto calmly walks into the ring and kicks his head off, before gesturing for Ogawa to bring it. And boy do they bring it in front of this molten hot crowd.

I don't have the book on me, but the first chapter in Flair's autobiography is entitled "Black Market Baby" - where he says that he was a victim and illegally removed from his mother.