BillThompson

This is true, but I find the criteria Matt is applying in this situation to be pedantic and pointless. It's not judging the work, but judging the work based on potential future work. So my criteria because you disagree with it is pedantic and pointless? I thought this message boards purpose was to discuss the matters of professional wrestling? Because you think a match or a wrestler is an all time great or the best thing since slice bread and you disagree you feel the need to attack someone and discredit their educated opinion? I disagreed with your opinion and gave my point of view of I why I felt differently. I judge matches that are not only planned out extensively but appear to be planned out by what goes on in the ring and that effects how I feel about that match. I have no issue with your opinion. As I said, you can dislike Sasha, Becky, that match, or anything all you want. You can think it's merely good, or they are merely good wrestlers. I have no issue with any of that, I take issue with your approach and how it is a pedantic and pointless one. There is no actual discussion that can come from what you wrote; because the answer is always, "They're green and therefore we don't know how good they actually are." I take issues with your entire idea of them being green, but when you present the opinion that "Guys, these are planned matches, we have to remember that." as if it is something that actually matters, there's nothing to discuss.

This is true, but I find the criteria Matt is applying in this situation to be pedantic and pointless. It's not judging the work, but judging the work based on potential future work.

I think you're overselling what was essentially a pointless post, or at best an overreaching one. Using the "she's green" argument for someone who has been wrestling for a few years now and has been in plenty of good to great matches is a very weak argument. Using the "matches are planned out" so we don't know how good a worker she is argument is just as weak. We don't know how much of their matches are planned out. The accounts vary in that regard, and there's just as good of a chance that del Rey plans out a few key moments and leaves the rest up to the workers as there is that she plans out the entire match. Even if they are planned out, so what? The execution still has to take place, and I don't see the majority of people knocking Savage despite him planning out pretty much every match of his entire career. I'm fine with people not liking Sasha, or even thinking she's not a good wrestler. I'd disagree, but I could accept their argument. The argument being put forth is paper thin and not one that holds up to scrutiny. When you have to reach that far to try and take credit away from someone I think it's time to step back and rethink your words.

Are you talking about his debut in WCW or his earlier Florida/Japan/WWF work? Meant his WCW debut.

I'd place Akiyama above Kobashi and Misawa, and I'm not sure if I wouldn't have him ahead of Kawada and Taue too, but not yet.

And I really don't care about any of that. If you produce in the ring that's all that matters to me. Sasha Banks has consistently produced in the ring, that's all I care about. If that changes when she moves to the main roster then so be it, but I don't think that will happen. There's so much about Sasha that can't be taught, and so much that is the product of her working very hard to be the best possible wrestler she can be. There's a reason people have been very high on her for a while now, and why some have no problem labeling her one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Wrote a trio of new reviews today, Chris Benoit vs. Terry Funk from National Wrestling Alliance New Jersey in 1994 Oliver John vs. Jeff Cobb from PREMIER Wrestling in 2013 Chris Masters vs. Kris Travis from Preston City Wrestling in 2012

Any word on how Kris Travis is doing following his cancer battle?

I'll start off by offering a take most will say is crazy, but of the lot I prefer Taue and think Taue is actually the best. After that comes Kawada, then Misawa, and finally Kobashi. I feel all are great, but there's something about Taue that I feel is just better than the rest. Now, I know most are going to tell me I'm crazy and wrong, and I'm okay with that. Later on I'll offer more thoughts based on responses.

Natalya, Paige, Naomi, Nikki Bella, and Alicia Fox all range from decent to really good workers. Even on the main roster the talent is present; it all comes back to presentation and conditioning of the audience. None of them are really good workers. Nikki Bella hasn't done anything memorable ever except throw a solid forearm which somehow now makes her a good worker around here, Naomi is average, Paige, Natalya and Alicia Fox have shown some glimpses of quality but compared to their overall output it would be equivalent to calling Kofi Kingston a really good worker. With the exception of Naomi who is all potential right now, I'd rate every single one of those women as decent to really good, and it's not some curve grade or anything like that; they are that good.

Nope, they've been using Leva Bates and Rhyno in that role for a while now. There may be others as well, not sure though.

Natalya, Paige, Naomi, Nikki Bella, and Alicia Fox all range from decent to really good workers. Even on the main roster the talent is present; it all comes back to presentation and conditioning of the audience.

I voted Dustin but this is just demonstrably not true. He has long stretches of doing nothing or being actively not very good. I mean 98-2002 is like a completely dead period. The feuds and angles he was involved ion from 1998-2002 weren't anything of note, but I still felt that Dustin was consistently giving performances in accordance with his previous work.

Making my way through early PWG right now and a few matches have stuck out to me as great so far, Bad Ass Mother 3000 - Day 2 (08-30-2003) Frankie Kazarian vs. Christopher Daniels Tango & Cash Invitational - Day 1 (01-24-2004) Excalibur & Jonny Storm vs. American Dragon & Super Dragon The Secret of the Ooze! (08-14-2004) Super Dragon vs. Samoa Joe The Next Show (09-04-2004) Chris Hero vs. Super Dragon

Glad to see you made it aboard Lars, now if I could just get you to get your podcast on iTunes...

The nomination process still requires at least three reviews for the nominees, yes?

I think he was just using it metaphorically to describe the explosion of new accessible wrestling we have now And I completely agree with him for this very reason. It's kind of sad to see people complain and complain about the product WWE is offering when there's so much variety now available to the wrestling viewer. I'm not even saying give up on WWE or anything like that, but there's so much other stuff to watch (both from the present and the past) that when WWE disappoints I can find something else to leave me a happy wrestling fan.

I'm a big fan of women's wrestling, mainly because it can be, and most of the time is, no different than male wrestling. There are great female wrestlers, mediocre female wrestlers, and bad female wrestlers. They put on great matches, bad matches, and matches you'll forget about two minutes after they end. They can easily main event, and I think they could easily become stars and draws. It all comes down to conditioning the fans. That is wrestling in a nutshell; whether we're talking about a new star, a new style, a gimmick, or women wrestlers the crowd will accept them if they are conditioned to accept them. It is true that with the current power base in WWE that reconditioning won't be happening anytime soon, but the fans could be conditioned to accept women's wrestling as legt and as just as important to the show as any other element. And now is the time to do it; in WWE and NXT there are more talented women wrestlers than ever. They range from best in the world to pretty decent, but a division consisting of Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch, Paige, Nikki Bella, Naomi, Alicia Fox, Emma, Bayley, Natalya, Charlotte, and Alexa Bliss as your starting points should be able to succeed in every possible way if the fans are conditioned to accept them.

Rhyno has the same deal. So does Leva Bates, but I think there's an important difference that makes Joe's contract somehow revolutionary in how WWE is doing business. Bates and Rhyno are just talent, specifically in NXT they are being used as enhancement talent while on the indies they are booked as well thought of names. Joe is being pushed as a star, complete with merch, by WWE and he's still being booked as a main eventer on the indies, including in the promotions that are arguably the biggest competitors to the WWE.

Dustin is a top 10 guy for me, Austin isn't. I feel like Austin had a much shorter peak period, where even within that peak period the quality varied. Dustin was consistently among the best in the world from the moment he debuted, and I still had him on that level until the end of last year.

Both will rank high on my list, but I'm leaning towards Hansen as my #1 right now. A lot of people love Terry's 90's into 00's work, but I think it's more miss than it is hit. Conversely as he got older Stan seemed to find a role where he was never worse than decent and his matches were almost always a hit. That's a big factor in my voting.

Richards has already been back working with Gabe in EVOLVE, bridges are always being rebuilt in pro wrestling.

I've been in on Sasha for a while now, she's a special talent; the sort that only comes along in wrestling every so often. You could see the pieces present in her early work, she just hadn't found a way to bring them together. Now she has and it's really fun to watch her shine in the ring and continue to improve. I have no qualms saying she's one of the best in the world, male or female.

How upbeat is Johnny Sorrow; discuss...

I guess this whole Todd Martin thing is ending with him working for the Torch. Basic gist I got from his announcement was that Dave is a great guy, but Alvarez is a shithead who, as has been reported many times, doesn't look out for the people who work for him and that's why Martin left.