Steenalized

You and me have the same tastes, apparently. As far as Flair goes, I do think he's an all time great, but he's not going to be number one for me and he never had a shot. He's just not my style of wrestler and it comes to a point where the talent gaps are so thin that I'm going largely on stylistic preference. Like Grimmas and Dylan got at, Flair also has the benefit of being in the position to have as many "great matches" as possible. But to me that means very little, since I rarely have the interest in watching anything approaching minutes, let alone going past it or well past it. I don't think having stellar broadways is the end-all, be-all of wrestling talent. Not that Flair was only good in these things, obviously not, but when I narrow it down to what I enjoy in wrestling and what I'm looking for, Flair falls behind others. Funk and Hansen, his apparent rivals for the purpose of this thread, being two of those. I'm sure it'll be blasphemy on some level to Parv, but Cena will probably right alongside Flair in my rankings. Wouldn't shock me if Cena came out higher.

He's also good friends with KENTA, isn't he? And KENTA isn't exactly a beloved figure in NJPW.

And I guess there were some Daniel Bryan signs confiscated from the crowd, too. I think the more people speak up about it, the more this could be a very thorny Freedom of Speech issue for the company, especially if someone decides to sue. The WWE isn't the government, so no it can't because that's not how the first amendment works.

Cleveland is easier to get to and probably quicker for Midwesterners unless you're from KC/St. Louis/Indianapolis or south from about there. For everyone else it's likely easier to take 80 straight to Cleveland. Not that Columbus is especially hard to get to either, but it's generally not any closer. I imagine Ohio fans easily traveled between the two and if you made time for one you probably tried to make time for both/

Put me in the camp of people who think wrestlers with gimmicks like Breeze, the Vaudevillians, Becky when she was dancing, etc. aren't going to go anywhere on the main roster. Rose and Bo showed as much on the main stage. I generally can't stand those gimmicks and while maybe one of them will randomly get hot for a bit as a midcard act, they seem to churn out more than a few too many.

Because I only have so much time in the day and don't put a premium on a lot of NXT's week to week stuff. I also watch the NXT specials after the fact, a day or two later so I know what matches were must see, should see, or skippable.

Wrestling fans have a weirdly anti-wrestler stance in a lot of ways. I don't think it's a matter of economics/politics, just that wrestling fans will turn on anyone who looks out for themselves versus the promoter (see Brock Lesnar at the moment) because he's not being one of the boys.

Voted low enthusiasm but I'm actually pretty on the fence about watching it. I want to see Cena/Rusev and that's about it.

Just started listening to this, it may blow your mind to know that Polka isn't a Polish dance, it's originally Czech, but it got it's name from the word for a Polish woman. Polak is the male form that became a slur.

Is it just a rumor or is he really Hansen's nephew? I've always heard that he was but at the same time, I never seem him pushes as Hansen's nephew either. He is Silas Young and not Silas Hansen. The "Peegee Waja Plunge" or whatever it's called, uncertain of the spelling, is so out of place for Silas. Get him a better finish and he'll be about perfect at what he is.

That I agree 100% with, even if it is generic I would rather see him use a stiff lariat or something like that.

Glad to see the Silas love here too, he's my favorite guy at AAW shows when I've made it and that indy feels like his home turf. At the ROH show I went to last spring in Chicago he was more over than his push because of the AAW fandom crossover.

That's a bit bold of a statement, Loss. It's next to impossible to imagine what the wrestling world would look like today if Vince's national expansion failed for whatever reason. Heck, the reason he did fail would probably have a major effect on what the business is like today (e.g., he just grew to much too fast and went bankrupt vs. a sharp decline in popularity). For all we know, Turner may still have gone national and wrestling could be bigger than it is today. A nearly infinite number of variables makes it extraordinarily difficult to determine what wrestling would be like today if Vince hadn't been successful. Obviously, wrestling is what it is today because of Vince, but I do not believe it's but for the grace of Vince that we still have wrestling beyond a little niche like roller derby today.

Yeah, screw having a chance to draw money, better kill it and make a guy look bad and put on a bad match.

Probably Shawn Michaels. I hated him first because he was a heel and I was a child, so it was natural. Then as a teen when I was watching wrestling again, I didn't care for his matches, his segments, the DX reunion, and all that mid-2000s crap. Plus finding out everything that happened with his tantrums and the Montreal saga didn't help. Now I can't stand when he comes back and is treated above his station, both in terms of importance to wrestling history and as a wrestling talent.

It doesn't have the rep for it, but I'd put Rey vs. JBL up there as a pretty great match. Judgment Day PPV, I believe 06.

Not a joke, but that is the first thing that pops into my mind when I think of the Bushwhackers.

JBL had very good to great matches with Cena, Rey, and Eddie when he was up top in the mid-00s. That's not too hard to do given those three opponents, but he wasn't a stiff either even if people moaned incessantly about him. Yes, his gimmick was low-hanging fruit, but it turned a guy who no one cared about into someone that people hated. And prior to becoming JBL he was pretty much the opposite of that character: a blue collar, beer drinking fighter.

On the last reaction show there was talk about who has the clout and the willingness to tell the WWE no. Cena has the clout for sure, but how often he vetoes ideas I don't really know. Brock has the clout and definitely has the willingness to do what he wants and make that clear to the WWE. Good for him.

Triple H winning at Mania then stepping up on Raw the next night as the true top dog of the WWE sounds perfect.

If you think pro wrestling isn't a great storytelling medium, then your world view of pro wrestling is going to be extremely far off what a lot of people here are looking for in a match. I know I don't view wrestling as a collection of moves and execution of those moves like you seem to.

When Orton has been a face I've begged for him to be a heel. I never liked him either way but he was much more natural heel. Suddenly he became a solid babyface this last time that he turned.

To be fair, Matt Bloom had a hell of a run in NJPW. But yeah, how can people complain about Bray Wyatt? He's a really good wrestler with great character potential that has only suffered due to shitty stop/start booking. All that asides, I can't help feeling that the Taker/Wyatt match is going to be a casket affair given Bray's segment from Fast Lane. And his complete inability to cut a coherent, non-rambling promo.

In a way, and since I'm not a LU follower anyhow, I'm looking forward to seeing how Russo can add to his legacy.

Randy will always have golden boy status. Bryan will never have that even if he has become something of a made man.