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BillThompson

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Everything posted by BillThompson

  1. Sacramento Wrestling Federation: Ring Warriors Revenge (10-06-2012) Oliver John vs. Timothy Thatcher Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.
  2. Pro Wrestling Bushido: Warriors Rising (08-26-2012) Johnny Goodtime vs. Timothy Thatcher This is for Thatcher's PWB Heavyweight Championship. The bloom comes off the rose for Goodtime in this encounter. It becomes pretty clear in this one that outside of his energetic athleticism he doesn't have a whole lot to offer. There's no selling or bumping that is noteworthy, and his ability to connect with the crowd is put to the test when his more athletic spots and energetic mannerisms don't have much of an effect on said crowd. Luckily Thatcher is on top of his game here, recognizing early on that he has to do a mite of carrying this time around, and that's what he does. He keeps Goodtime's time on offense to brief spurts, which helps to make his limited offense mean more. Unfortunately, a problem with that is Thatcher does a lot of limb work, but Goodtime isn't really interested in effective selling. Overall this is what I would call a decent popcorn match, it is good from time to time, but doesn't leave much of an impact. Though it was fun to see Thatcher take control of a match and bring a guy back from the brink of completely losing the crowd.
  3. Pro Wrestling Bushido: Warriors Way Tournament '12 (04-29-2012) Johnny Goodtime vs. Timothy Thatcher This is for Thatcher's PWB Heavyweight Championship. One of those matches where a lot of it is great, but a lot of it is hard to see. There's a large outside the ring segment in the middle of the match, as well as two over the top rope bumps, where I couldn't see a thing. Not a negative against the work, but I can only go off of what I can see. What I could see was pretty great though. Goodtime is an interesting talent, he's really energetic and moves around the ring with great agility for a guy his size. At times this creates problems as his body is slow in catching up with what he's going for, such as a Side Headlock Takedown where he almost spikes Thatcher on his head. Still, Goodtime makes for an interesting match, because he has a physicality and presence that guys like Dutra lack, and he can really bring the fight to Thatcher. This time out Thatcher's leg is being worked over, and Gooditme goes after it in interesting ways. One such way is a Stretch Muffler Sharpshooter. Highlight of the leg work has to be Thatcher's attempts to climb the ropes. His leg shakes the entire time, he struggles just to make it to the middle rope, and he easily falls off the ropes. It's a small thing, but a sequence like that is what makes me really find Thatcher to be a superb worker. Anyways, there's a spirited rally to the finish, and that's really the only place where the visible part of the match falters. I still don't completely but the Thatcher Stretch as an out of nowhere finisher. Maybe I'll come around on it at some point, but not yet. Him using it here after not having worked over Goodtime's arm since the opening minutes of the match rings false. Good match though, with great selling and a great all around performance from Thatcher.
  4. Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (11-19-2011) Timothy Thatcher vs. Sir Samurai vs. Bobby Hart vs. Rik Luxury This is a Four Way match. Not much I can say about this match, as a lot of stuff happens but none of it means a thing. I'm not sure why SPW uses the stupid tag in-tag out rules for their four man matches, but they really hamper any build or suspense behind everything up until the actual finish. To that end Thatcher does a lot of his usual stuff, but it matters not because nothing in the match matters.
  5. Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (12-11-2011) Sal Thomaselli vs. Timothy Thatcher Up until the last three or so minutes I really liked this match. It's still good, but man do those final few minutes suck the life out of the joint. An angle opens things up, as Thomaselli bitches about Thatcher not being able to beast him clean, and then Thatcher surprises him with a Schoolboy for the quick pin. Crowd pops big for that, and is really into it when Thatcher agrees to keep going to prove he can beat Thomaselli another time. Of course this is turned around on Thatcher as Thomaselli takes every opening he sees to turn this into a brawl. In the fray Thatcher hurts his arm and Thomaselli is all over that hurt arm. He essentially pulls a Thatcher as he beats the crap out of Thatcher's arm. Lots of interesting work from Thomaselli, and Thatcher in on point with his short term selling. Thatcher has a fiery comeback, including a hard Lariat that I can't recall him using before or since (which is a shame because it would make a good addition to his repertoire). Up until this point the match has been really great, and very compelling. It remains compelling, and the audience seems to love the final couple of minutes, but Thatcher's use of his arm pretty much lost me. At first Thatcher goes for his really dumb London Bridge is Falling Down (which is essentially a Twirl Reverse STO), which I'm glad he's dropped in his recent work. The first try is fine, as he can't execute the move because of his damaged arm. However, after Thomaselli hits a Spinning Fisherman's Buster Thatcher goes for his move again, and connects. He then moves into the Thatcher Stretch, again putting all the torque on his injured arm. A few more back and forth moves that ignore all of Thomaselli's limb work, and then Thatcher latches on the Thatcher Stretch again for the submission. The crowd seems very happy, and I wish I could be too, but Thatcher is pretty awful in the final few minutes of the match. A lot of limb work that doesn't factor into the ending and is ultimately ignored doesn't make me a happy camper. Thomaselli and Thatcher looked great for the first twelve minutes, then the final three happened and they looked pretty bad. Hitting move after move for a bunch of nearfalls does nothing for me when it ignores everything that has come before. Thomaselli seems like a decently talented chap, but him and Thatcher should have provided a much better match.
  6. Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (03-18-2012) Rik Luxury vs. Timothy Thatcher Missed chunks of this thanks to two dudes standing in front of the camera. That's okay though because what I could see was pretty good. Luxury had the spot of the match when he and Thatcher engaged in the no-sell German spot. Luxury hit a German, Thatcher no sold and hit one of his own. Luxury popped up and yelled attempting to no sell but instead he yelled "shit" grabbed his back and hit the floor. It was quite the humorous spot, although I suppose it does kind of stick out in a match that is otherwise serious and hard hitting. Luxury appears to have some decent strikes and hits his moves with snap. Thatcher is able to be very physical with Luxury, and he really lays into his European Uppercuts. I'm willing to peg the match as good with a well done hard hitting performance from Thatcher, but I would have liked to have been able to see the whole thing.
  7. Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: Unknown Event (02-10-2103) Timothy Thatcher vs. Willie Mack This is for Mack's CWH Television Championship. A match that is okay, but brings up an interesting talking point. Thatcher works over Mack's arm the first opening he gets, but by the end of the match Mack has largely ignored all of the work. Now, I'm usually one to put the blame on the person selling. Thatcher clearly and definitively worked over Mack's arm, and he should sell the injured arm throughout. However, in a setting like this versus a wrestler like Mack maybe working the arm is putting Mack in a bad spot. He needs to get in his stuff and pop the crowd, it's an indie crowd who wants their entertainment and that means Mack hitting his spots. Maybe the onus should be on Thatcher to vary his gameplan and wrestle a less limb focused match? I don't know, I still find myself thinking that Mack should sell, but it's food for thought either way. As to the match itself, it's okay I guess. There are patches that are hard to see, but they are minor. I can see the charisma that Mack possesses, but I'm not sold on him as a complete package yet. Thatcher does his thing, he looks good doing it, but Mack shrugs it all of and makes his big comeback to pop the crowd.
  8. Supreme Pro Wrestling: St. Peter's Hall (07-29-2007) Kassy Summers & Timothy Thatcher vs. Honor Society (Drake Frost & Sir Samurai) This is an Intergender Barefoot Thumbtack match for the Honor Society's Tag Team Championship. A bag of legos also becomes involved at some point, along with lighter fluid and trays of hot sauce. It's all pretty ridiculous, and pretty awful, but it's interesting to see Thatcher function in such a match. Any pretense of him being classically trained is tossed out the window and he takes on the tough guy role of tossing dudes into piles of thumbtacks. But man, does he ever bump, and that's where Thatcher shows versatility in this match. He's thrown into the thumbtacks, misses a Double Stomp and lands right in the thumbtacks, and does the lion's share of the work for his team. He's still not able to make chicken salad out of chicken shit, but, as previously stated, it is an interesting watch nonetheless.
  9. Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (07-15-2012) Mustafa Saed vs. Timothy Thatcher This is a two out of three falls match. Uh, yeah, bringing in Mustafa is bad enough, but bringing him in to wrestle a ten minute best two out of three falls match, that's just asking for terribleness. And terrible this is; Mustafa lumbers around throws some awful looking strikes and a few times times bumps for something Thatcher throws. But essentially this is Thatcher placating the bigger star who is appearing for a lot of money and thus the promoters want him to go over. The end result is a match that is nothing like a Thatcher match, and one where he is made to look pathetic.
  10. All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (01-05-2013) Oliver John vs. Timothy Thatcher Reviewed at Blue Thunder Driver.
  11. If you're using Chrome it's been known to have issues with the Network from time to time. It usually works for me, but twice I've had to uninstall Chrome and remove all traces of Chrome from my laptop, then reinstall it for it to work again.
  12. BillThompson

    Current WWE

    Just because a director can put the camera in the right place for a crane shot doesn't mean the crane shot is well executed or works within the film. That's Neville and his aerial spots, just because he's able to physically do them doesn't mean they are well executed or work within the match. I could actually see this happening, as a tag team would hide a lot of their weaknesses and keep their acts seeming fresher for longer.
  13. BillThompson

    Current WWE

    It's not a strength for him, because he's not a Sydal/Bourne who has a great understanding of how to work his spots into a match. And, to clarify, I've seen plenty of Neville matches, so I'm going off of that and not any GIFs; he's a spot guy, that's all he has and he's not good at even those.
  14. And within the industry Knowles is viewed as a joke whose opinions and news are completely biased towards who has given him favors and who hasn't. That's why what Dave was considering was potentially damaging and not something many of us wanted to see him do.
  15. All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (06-16-2012) Dave Dutra vs. Timothy Thatcher This is for Thatcher's APW Universal Championship. Pretty good match until it degenerates into nothing but finishing moves and nearfalls for the final couple of minutes. The camera is up close, right alongside the ring, and it really gives an indication of how much better Thatcher is than Dutra. I like Dutra, he's a good pro wrestler, but the camera reveals how much more snug, crisp, and stiff Thatcher is compared to Dutra. It also relays how Thatcher makes Dutra work for everything. That's something Thatcher does that I wish more wrestlers did today, there;s no easy transitions with him. At one point in the early going Dutra attempts a DDT out of nowhere and Thatcher sandbags him. It's not the point in the match for that and Thatcher makes him work to get into a better time and place within the match to hit such a move. A pretty good match, but a great showing for Thatcher who really shines with the camera up close enough to show in fine detail how smoothly rugged his transitions are, how hard hitting his offense is, how well he bumps, and so on and so forth.
  16. The Ebert comparison is a million miles off. Ebert was never a reporter, ever. He never broke news, he never reported any any of the goings on within the industry he covered. He was 100% a critic, where bias and subjectivity are the standard. Even then he moderated himself and kept his distance from films/subjects that he believed would put him in a compromising position. Meltzer is a journalist who also happens to be a critic. He offers opinions, but the bulk of his work is reporting on and breaking news, as well as offering critical business analysis. There's a world of difference between the two, to the point where I can't fathom why the original argument was made.
  17. BillThompson

    Current WWE

    Neville's not a good wrestler though, and nothing he does stands out from the pack. He's a spot guy who has pretty blah spots that aren't exciting and don't make any sort of lasting impact. Really he's Kofi Kingston 2.0, only with even less charisma and less ability to connect with the crowd. If ever there were a wrestler who should be welcoming any gimmick to try and give him a chance of making it, Neville is that wrestler.
  18. NorthWest Wrestling Alliance: Salem (03-21-2008) Paul Raze vs. Timothy Thatcher Despite being earlier than the previous NWWA match I reviewed, Thatcher seems to have more of an idea of how to transition and tie his moves together in this match. It's all very slow so that Raze can keep up, but the methodology is more akin to present day Thatcher than green Thatcher. Thatcher is still getting there when it comes to bumping and selling for his opponent, but even in a match like this it's clear as day that he is operating on a different level than Raze when it comes to putting a match together and getting the ins and outs of a wrestling match. That's not to say that Thatcher is great here, because he's not, but it is interesting watching him put the pieces together while still struggling with aspects like movement, timing, how and when to amp it up, and so on and so forth.
  19. PREMIER Wrestling: Cobb vs. Tannen (09-29-2013) Dylan Drake vs. Timothy Thatcher A maddening match. The framework of a well worked match is present, but neither man is willing to fully commit to the gameplan of the other. Things start going south when Drake goes for a Dragon Screw Legwhip, but Thatcher isn't prepared so he bumps the wrong way for it. He still sells the move, but he makes Drake look pretty foolish in the execution. Drake's leg based offense has good intentions, but it's too soft and all over the place. He seems to think that yelling and then dropping to the mat should convince us that he's hurting Thatcher's leg despite it being all too obvious that Thatcher's leg was never in a position where Drake dropping down while grapevining it would hurt said leg. The idea of Drake working over both of Thatcher's legs is interesting, but it's poorly executed mainly due to Thatcher deciding to not sell the work. Thatcher hitting a Deadlift Gutwrench Suplex looks impressive, but it's pretty stupid considering he's supposed to barely be able to walk. The finish sums up the match nicely as Thatcher stops a Dragon Screw Legwhip attempt by basing out and then swiftly moves into a Cross Armbreaker. It's a sequence that looks great, but makes no sense as Thatcher hasn't worked over Drake's arm all that much, nor should he be able to base out with two supposedly severely damaged legs. A bad performance from both men, but especially egregious from Thatcher as he is capable of so much better.
  20. NorthWest Wrestling Alliance: Unknown Event (04-05-2008) Dan Daniels vs. Timothy Thatcher More early Thatcher, and hes still in the process of molding his style in this one. He works over Daniels' arm, but he's not as vicious as he later would be nor is his attack as focused as it would become. Still, the arm work is present, even if the destination point is missing. Even at this stage in Thatcher's career Daniels comes across as a prop more than anything else. He does have one wicket Lariat though, I'll give him that much. This match also features an early Thatcher spot that he has dropped, and I'm glad he did. He goes for a Small Package, and then Thatcher and his opponent roll back and forth and in circles while maintaining the Small Package position. An interesting idea in theory, but in execution it does very little to progress or add to the match.
  21. BillThompson

    Current WWE

    I get that Neville probably is not going to be main event level in WWE for many reasons, but when did everyone suddenly become in favor of giving guys gimmicks that kneecap them right from the start? As cool as we'd all make a Mighty Mouse inspired character, you know WWE Creative would come up with the usual lame as fuck idea that emphasized all his weaknesses. I could see them giving him a mask with ear holes cut out so his actual ears would be the mouse ears. There's been two people in this thread who are in favor of Neville being Mighty Mouse, everyone else has been against it. The general tone around the internet has been against the gimmick. However, again, I would stress that Neville doesn't have any legs to cut out. He's a terrible promo, has almost no charisma, and is subpar in the ring. All of that equals any gimmick being a plus for him, because he doesn't have what it takes to make it on his own.
  22. All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (01-03-2009) Timothy Thatcher vs. Jeckles the Jester This is for Jeckles' APW Internet Championship. Awful match, mainly due to neither man being on the same page. There's multiple missed spots, including a glaring Polish Hammer attempt from Thatcher that Jeckles sells even though Thatcher misses him by a good foot. There's also a botched Chokeslam near the end, where Jeckles lifts Thatcher up and then Thatcher bumps forward instead of backward and they tumble to the mat. I don't know, maybe that's a silly move of Jeckles' and it's supposed to be that way, but it looked bad. Neither man really does anything other than miss spots. This is the first match I've seen from Thatcher where I've felt he was legitimately awful.
  23. North American Wrestling: Lodi (Unknown Date) Bobby Hart vs. Timothy Thatcher This is very early in Thatcher's career. he doesn't even have the Union Jack tights yet. This is a very interesting match as the ground work is present in Thatcher for the wrestler he will become. He works over Hart's arm, and he understands how he needs to work over the arm with a variety of moves and build towards his Thatcher Stretch. At the same time Thatcher has yet to understand the importance of transitions and moving from one move to another. Thus he stands around a lot in between moves, which is very odd to see coming from Thatcher. This is mainly a back and forth grappling match, but it suffers because even a green Thatcher comes across as leagues better than Hart on the mat. Hart feels like a guy who watched a few tapes and thinks he can grapple now, and he acts accordingly by going with the same repeated moves like a Cross Armbreaker and Fujiwara Armbar. He may not get the transition side of things, but Thatcher's arm work is much more focused and crisp, and there are hints of the greatness that is to come. As a match this is middling, but as a glimpse at a green Thatcher this is a fascinating watch.
  24. WestCoast Wrestling Federation: WCWF Arena (01-11-2014) Timothy Thatcher vs. Dave Dutra Reviewed on Blue Thunder Driver.
  25. I think RoH is in a gray area as far as being an indie. The financial entity they are owned by is huge with lots of cash. However, they spend very little on RoH and RoH continues to look like and be run like an indie.
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