dawho5

I'm fine with that. I have to add something like 10 guys even after the draft is over to bulk my roster all the way up.

Lawler is pretty much the King of everything in the clip. I like that the way they have been portraying Embry makes you question whether or not he actually did leave Lawler in a pool of his own blood. My guess is no, but it's neither here nor there. Leatherface does indeed surprise in the depth of his love for the chainsaw. Poor guy, all he wants to do is cut people in half.

For all of the bad things that could have happened here, they managed to pull this off surprisingly well. Maybe part of Lawler's charm is booking himself into seemingly impossible matches to pull off and managing to make them work.

The Leatherface stuff is great, but Embry tops it with that wild, but still sleazy, promo. He seems to have dropped a lot of the Texas vs. Tennessee stuff for just plain crazy though. Embry did get over in Puerto Rico also.

The tag match was some kind of oddball mix, but it worked. Doug was throwing some pretty good punches there. Tar and feathering is a bit much, but the Anthonys really do save it. Might even lead to some memorable matches.

I'll echo the sentiment about Colon going over clean and being mobbed by fans being a great way to end the set. I will not ever agree that Steve Strong in a 20 minute match was a good idea. Colon got what he could out of it, but it's just...not good. I get that there had to be some time after the leg work and the figure four sequence, but this dragged a lot for me.

I'm good to go whenever. Just gimme a day and time. Far as I can see, I only have a few guys I really want that are going to hold a lot of name value in the fresh face draft. Picks are not at a premium for me. Plus, my entire roster is made up of PR guys and guys I have use for.

Meng is on a freaking tear. Robinson is gonna need his head on straight real soon. Ricky Martel is really on fire going into Starrcade and I like the buildup to the title match.

I'd agree that after 87 it seems like more flavor of the month heels/babyfaces vs. the usual suspects matches that are good to really good, but just don't reach the quality of matches on disc 2 or 3. It's not like anything is bad, just a definite drop in quality. For me any time Chicky Starr showed up I was still usually pretty happy with things. The first Batten Twins match as heels also was just a jump up in match quality.

To point out how fantastic this disc is. I am a huge fan of the Invader 1 vs. Ron Starr street fight match, amazing stuff throughout. But I take no issue with you putting those 7 matches above it at all. There is just THAT MUCH good stuff on disc 3.

Strong isn't anything special, but he's carry-able. Abby does a lot of the work here and that's for the better. I like Abby as a babyface as much as I like him as a heel in PR, which is to say a lot. He's got such a great connection with fans as both. Strong hits a couple of pretty good lariats and ends up looking pretty good coming out of the match. One thing I will say for him is that either he gets that he doesn't need to throw in a ton of flashy offense or just plain doesn't have it. Either way it works in his favor.

Early match was pretty standard PR stuff, really putting over the gimmick. If there is one thing that makes me think PR was a territory that was run in a smart way, it's that all of the high profile gimmick matches I have seen really make sure the gimmick is front and center. The kick sequence from TNT is awesome and I love how he doesn't use them as a crutch. Not that I don't think they should finish somebody off now and again because they look all kinds of awesome and hurty. Finish is...fucking OW! Crazy, but very good, use of the stip for the finish.

king Tonga making an appearance AND setting up a battle of the BRs, nicely done.

Yeah, compared to the previous tag this was a downgrade. But we still got good stuff like that barrage of awesome punches by Super Medico. And Rufus R. Jones dance escape was pretty good, made better by the Battens' accusations of him cheating afterwards. They are so much better as heels.

A longer heat would have meant less battens bumping around and stalling for the shine. And I'd say that is easily the thing they are best at. Great opening with the Battens looking far, far better than they did as babyfaces. They put so much energy into getting their asses kicked. Profe's trip of Perez is a manager spot that needed to show up everywhere. Nope, just leaning my elbow on the apron, nothing going on here. Finish is a bit wonky, but seeing Profe get chased around the ring does add something. Not as much as a real finish, but the work after the hot tag was still pretty good. Heel Battens are the best Battens.

If you like great worked punches, this match is for you. Chicky has been alright with the punches so far on the set, but this match is just so above and beyond anything I've seen yet. And Embry, well, he's always been good with the punches that I've seen. I loved how committed Chicky was to the handshake here. I'll agree with Elliot that the finish was so very Chicky Starr. Please tell me these two feuded into 1991 and it is on youtube. I can see myself binge watching a bunch of 1990s Chicky Starr on youtube regardless of the opponent anyway.

Rain does make a good point. I can also see the side of the issue lowblow is coming from, trying to keep things balanced and fair. Could be this is one of those times where the rules need to be looked at as a guideline and not set in stone.

So Rip Roger has to wrestle...Juan....Riivera. I'm pretty sure that overly repeated bit of commentary by Rip scarred me for life. Fuck you for that Rip Rogers. On to this match. Rogers is great stalling and finding a foreign object early. He hits TNT with it a few times and kicks him in the balls because Puerto Rico. And Rip Rogers has redeemed himself. That superkick outside the ring was all sorts of great and Rogers stuck in there to make it look even better. Rogers selling for TNT is really, really good on the comeback. Here's the thing, I just watched Abuddadein throw every 80s highspot in the book at Invader 1 and Carlos Colon. I was still 10 times more impressed by Rogers performance in a match where he brawled and used a foreign object for 95% of his offense. He hit a suplex and tried a crossbody from the top, those were the only two wrestling moves he did. Still miles better than the last 2 matches I watched. Crowd seemed kinda dead for some of the finishing run, not sure what to make of that.

Abuddadein is one of my least favorite wrestlers on the set. He just doesn't fit in Puerto Rico. Put him in someplace really workrate-y like Japan or even WCW and I think he works way better. Invader 1 gets a good match out of him, but it seemed like Colon was able to do a little better. I'd agree with Elliot that Abuddadein could use a little slower pace instead of just trying to get all of his shit in. It's PR, you don't need to do 3 different suplexes, a neckbreaker, a DDT, a piledriver and a top rope splash. In all reality, if you are doing all of that you should probably be a babyface, not the foreign heel of the moment.

Abuddadein seems like a pretty good offensive wrestler as far as variety, but his strike don't look great and I'm not sold on him working from underneath. Then again, Colon gives him a lot of the middle of the match so he doesn't have to. The more I see of Colon against these limited guys the more I think he's really good at working around their flaws and showcasing their strengths.

I liked that the fans had shit loaded up to throw at Embry as soon as he was out of the ring as well. Santana crashed and burned that splash in a really hurty looking way. Looks great and all but think about your career, man. Going in I expected a really good match because Santana is a good babyface and Embry is a great heel. And I got exactly what I expected. Definitely recommend it to fans of either.

I always like gimmick matches in PR because they use the damn gimmick instead of treating it like just another prop. Colon using the mask to bust Jason open was really good. I'd call whoever played Jason the Terrible a serviceable big man. not great, but up against somebody good he knew how to do his part. Colon can get a good gimmick match out of anybody though, so I may be wrong.

I'm glad we kept the subtext out of the English commentary. I'll second Kroffat and Castillo really putting together some nice sequences. I liked how Exotico kept some of the comedy stuff going during the heat with no detriment to the match. Finish was really good and showed how good everyone involved is at this point.

I thought Santana's work on the arm was good. He showed good fire when it was needed and sold well when it was called for. Sasaki is good here, but he doesn't fit the mold that Japanese guys are supposed to fit in the 80s outside of Japan. That is to say, he isn't a "martial arts master". Fun young guys match that gives you an idea of how they built up midcarders.

Nah, he's gonna have a box delivered and attack the wrong leg.