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dawho5

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Everything posted by dawho5

  1. dawho5
    Watching the Flair/Davey match from England really made me think about a few things: 1. How national TV exposure completely changed the requirements of wrestlers. Also, how long did it take the wrestling industry to figure this out? 2. Looking at AJPW, it's hard not to see their need to continually evolve. Their main market is Tokyo, competing with NJPW and these fans would have seen all the major matches. So you constantly need new blood or new ways the old blood operates to keep the fans coming. As an example: - Flair worked the NWA touring champ match with Davey for the British crowd and they ate it up. How many times would those same people need to see that match or the variations on it before they decided to put their entertainment dollar elsewhere? So given that AJPW (which I prefer, but they were not often the popular choice over NJPW) wanted to capitalize on these 5 talented guys, they had to continually evolve their in-ring style and have them grow to keep fans interested. 3. Another question it asks is about Kawada. Again, I love watching him, always have. But one way of looking at his career is that he didn't care for the idea of ever expansive moves becoming the new en vogue finisher. Where Misawa, Kobashi, Akiyama and Taue all added considerably to their arsenal, Kawada stayed pretty much the same with the gamengiri, powerbomb, backdrop and stretch plum. He did start using a brainbuster, yes. But what did he do when given the freedom to be the main guy? He seemed to try to do more with a more pared down style and substitute violence for the need to come up with a flashy new finisher because the old one was wearing out. He worked with wrestlers of different styles and tried to adapt to what they did instead of pushing them into better matches. Or was lazy and with one foot out the door, depends how you want to look at it. I start to wonder if that isn't the main reason Kobashi was pushed ahead of Kawada in the late 90s. Kawada had shown an unwillingness to adapt to the needs (maybe he didn't see them, I just saw it today myself) of keeping up with the competition. I need to watch more modern wrestling to get a better idea of how it affects wrestlers today, but my suspicion is that modern puroresu faces a very similar issue and every few years (or less) you see guys adding something to the arsenal and changing things up to keep crowds on their toes. Sure, they use the old favorites, but that's not enough to stay on top, even for a company like NJPW. WWE is different. It all flows from Vince and I'm not sure he feels the need to care about any of this just yet. And I doubt he has to. I imagine Triple H, for all the disparaging of him that goes on, is unaware of this and he has to have some plans in place.
  2. dawho5
    Loved seeing the hometown guy go over! This match put Flair as a whole in perspective for me. Everything he did was 100% meant to work for audiences like this. Hot hometown crowds who came to see the guy he was wrestling beat him. And based on the reactions he gets, it definitely works. If Flair has one great failing in his career it is that he never adjusted what he was doing due to the national television exposure.
  3. dawho5
    There were portions of the match that worked. The mask ripping and blood were good ways to put over the fact that this was a 2/3 falls mask vs. mask match. Some of the rope running sequences were pretty good but a lot of stuff looked at least a little awkward. The ridiculous amount of interference takes a lot away from this match. As does the stupid finish to caida 1, WTF was Darkness Dragon thinking? My suspicion is that Dragon Kid for sure and maybe Darkness Dragon (haven't seen enough) didn't have the offense to carry an 18 minute singles match so they gimmicked it all to Hell. And ruined it. Didn't watch it for the balloting in 2014 and it wouldn't have made my ballot anyway, despite the parts I liked.
  4. dawho5
    Good enough tag match for sure. Lane and Dr. Tom work well together. Living in the right part of Tennessee in 1992 would have been confusing with now DWB and Pritchard in both promotions. Battens are at least serviceable as babyfaces. Better as heels when they could do the illegal twin switching.
  5. dawho5
    Mark Curtis! Yes! Anyway, I also thought it was more angle than match, but that was fine. Orndorff carries it well and it is a perfectly fine TV match with Hector doing a few things you don't see often stateside. The piledrivers afterward put Orndorff over big.
  6. dawho5
    Embry should prove to be a valuable member of the team with that stip in place. As much as I love how this thing hs brought along a lot of great brawling, it is almost time for the Moondogs to get run out of town. You can only have this go on for so long before it gets to be too much. And Embry would be the guy to finally make it happen.
  7. dawho5
    Good fired up (and yes, slightly heelish) promo from Pritchard. Predictable that we get the ending we did. If I were a bookie I'd be putting pretty long odds on Pritchard winning that title at MSC.
  8. dawho5
    This is definitely becoming too much. Can't even get a match in on the side anymore.
  9. dawho5
    So after the Moondogs came around nobody really sold chains after this right? Seriously, these matches are 75% foreign object usage. And they go on long enough where you get the idea that maybe a foreign object doesn't mean much. That being said, great brawling in the MSC. Embry's promo is great and Lawler actually has to say no right away. After all the shit Embry has pulled there is no way this is a fast turn.
  10. dawho5
    Good to see somebody new involved with the Moondogs. Even if it is in it's very early stages.
  11. dawho5
    Goofy finish (due to timing I guess) aside, I thought it was crazy how they had the coked-up, screaming Sid promos bookending the replay of the toned down Hulk interview. The rest was...well, the rest.
  12. dawho5
    Good intro for Flexy Lexy. Not sure why they would be so into Lex with the steroids deal coming down on them, but whatever.
  13. dawho5
    I liked how Piper and Bret were contrasted in the pre-match promo. Piper the maniac and Bret in control and collected. I will second the comment on Piper not being technically sound all the time, but getting his character across through that.
  14. dawho5
    Great work by everyone involved. The shine really was great with all the heels really making Dustin, Barry & Steamer look golden. I can't get enough of these Dangerous Alliance matches.
  15. dawho5
    TEW 2020 is coming out soon and everything in the developer journal I have read looks promising.
  16. dawho5
    I enjoyed how Flair brought up Jack Tunney and blurring out the belt. Great promo.
  17. dawho5
    Vince is really good at these serious kinds of interviews, even if he comes across as a little hammy. Liz did great and makes herself really sympathetic.
  18. dawho5
    They showed the Warrior loss so they could say Hulk was gracious in defeat. I'll let you decide how true that is. Hulk actually is more compelling for me when he's toned down, even if I know he's 100% full of shit.
  19. dawho5
    Moondog mayhem again after Jarrett slaps Lee and the babyfaces undress him. I'm not full on with garretta on not enjoying the Moondogs, but the schtick does get a bit old when it happens this often.
  20. dawho5
    I thought the intensity DWB and Embry had in their brawl was great and it made perfect sense that Embry slunk off while the Moondogs beat up DWB. When the 'Dogs turned on Embry it was great too. Lawler and Jarrett come out to avenge the earlier beating. Funny how chairshots can put guys in the hospital (OMG, swelled brain!) but you can also come back a few minutes later to avenge them on TV.
  21. dawho5
    Everyone is better than Horner as a promo. I wonder if any heel fans were disappointed after sending Ron Wright money when he didn't get any. DWB is indeed a great talker. Not so much Brian Lee though. Corny did a great job reacting to the underwear being thrown at him. And that "we're not on network television" remark had to be a shot at WCW.
  22. dawho5
    Good match, Eddie's promo saves a real stinker of a mask removal. Here's hoping Eddie gets to set a mask on fire or something soon.
  23. dawho5
    Good TV match between guys who know how to put a match together. I like seeing Barry Horowitz get to be more than just a jobber for a while. He isn't a great heel, but he's at least passable if not mildly good.
  24. dawho5
    Shawn is good bumping around for Roddy. Not sure about some of his offense. Good way to up the ante for Bret/Roddy.
  25. dawho5
    This whole angle has been great. Mostly due to Corny and Bob really making it work. Anyone know where I can get a tennis racket like that?
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