BillThompson

I have two takeaways from this, 1) Adds more fuel to Vince not having any idea about NXT guys because he doesn't watch NXT. Also adds fuel to the idea that Dunn may watch, and wants to sabotage. 2) Even if #1 is true, Neville is a shitty pro wrestler, he needs a gimmick to be remotely interesting so this doesn't bother me in the slightest.

Unknown Promotion: Unknown Event (11-07-2009) Timothy Thatcher vs. Riv Vampiro Apparently this is Riv's first ever pro match, and it does show. There's not much here from Riv, as he looks quite nervous and off in everything he does. He's never offensively bad though, and that's a big plus. Thatcher looks good in guiding Riv through the match. He keeps things simple and allows for Riv to become more at ease the longer the match goes. Not exactly a great showing from Thatcher, but he did good in not blitzing the kid and giving him too much to work with.

PREMIER Wrestling: Cobb vs. Dutra (06-09-2013) Timothy Thatcher vs. JR Kratos A bit of a fuck you finish from Kratos as he tries to time his kickout to be right after the three, but he mistimes and mangles the ending as a result. Otherwise a swell match. Nothing too flashy, just simple hold for hold wrestling. Thatcher excels, as it's pretty obvious right away that he is carrying Kratos. Don't get me wrong, Kratos is game, but he's a hair too slow and musclebound to really keep up with Thatcher. But, Thatcher works to Kratos' level and the end result is a really good match. Lots of believable transitions and submission attempts. I liked how they worked with the idea of Kratos being a powerhouse and how Thatcher used that trait against Kratos. For the most part Kratos did a fine job of selling Thatcher's offense, and I'd love to see Thatcher use the Running Knee as a finish more often.

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (06-09-2011) Sir Samurai vs. Timothy Thatcher vs. Johnny Plinko vs. Josh Robertson This is a Four Way match. Odd set-up for this match, as it's a four way, but guys tag in and out all the time and it's not an elimination match. That makes the majority of the match feel pretty darn superfluous, because it's obvious the match isn't going to end until a pair is isolated in the ring. Maybe the singles matches will reveal more, but so far Samurai is not living up to his rep as a quality worker. He shows a lack of timing, and kind of just flies around the ring busting out moves at random. Thatcher is solid here, but this is a match where he needed to vary things up a bit and he didn't really do that. Him working over Plinko's arm \is interesting, but him doing the same exact routine to Robertson and Samurai is overkill. The one aspect of Thatcher's work that I wish he would expand is his moveset, because most of the time his arm work is fine, but in a match like this him pulling out some suplexes would be great. Still, Thatcher sells well here, bumps well, and is convincing with the offense he does use. Still, the format of the match makes this one pretty meandering.

Supreme Pro Wrestling: 8th Year Anniversary (04-20-2008) Bubba Blanchard vs. Sir Samurai vs. Mr. Frost vs. Vinny Massaro vs. Luster the Legend vs. Virgil Flynn vs. Timothy Thatcher This is a Double Hell Challenge Seven Way match for Thatcher's SPW Heavyweight Championship. Double Hell apparently means two rings, one is encased in a cage, the other had barbed wire draped over the ropes. There are weapons galore to be found, and the goal is to climb a ladder in one ring and take down the title, then traverse to the second ring, climb another ladder and hook the belt up there. As should be expected, this is abysmal. I happen to be a somewhat fan of death match stuff, but this is the very worst of the style. I'm not going to bother breaking much of the match down, because it's just a bunch of weapons shots and stupid bumps. This is interesting merely from the vantage point of it showcases Thatcher in a completely different environment. He stays in character though, he doesn't work over an arm or anything, but he tries to keep wrestling even amid all the chaos. It adds a nice touch to his character and it's probably why he stands out compared to the rest even though he doesn't do anything special. Thatcher doesn't shy away from taking bumps either, he gets tossed into the barbed wire ropes, thrown off a ladder, slammed on a barbed wire sign, and is shot in the head multiple times with a staple gun. None of it adds up to anything good, but it's interesting watching Thatcher in such an environment, and how even in a garbage match he manages to stand out from the crowd.

Pro Wrestling Bushido: Lucha Rulez (02-26-2011) Cjay Kurz vs. Amazing Red vs. Timothy Thatcher This is a Three Way Dance for Thatcher's PWB Heavyweight Championship. There are a few interesting sequences between Thatcher and Kurz, but on the whole a completely forgettable match. It's about seven minutes long and not much happens outside of your usual, and trite, three way spots.

What someone does throughout their carer matters, and the bad stuff can bring them down. It's the case with directors, musicians, actors, painters, and wrestlers. I think we've had this disagreement before though.

I'm more of a career guy, which includes all the peaks and valleys. It's why I think for instance that a guy like Lawler has his case as a possible #1 strengthened by his later career work while guys like Flair and Funk are hurt by their twilight years. I think a distinction I make, that I'm not sure applies to anyone else, is that career and peak may be the same thing in some cases. For instance Han's peak is pretty much his entire career, same thing for a guy like Thatcher where there's not much of his green work available and he has yet to reach the point past his peak. Basically, I judge what a worker gives me, all of it, the good and the bad.

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (Unknown Date) Dexter St. Jock vs. Timothy Thatcher Total and complete annihilation of an arm, that's what this match is. What impressed me the most was how Thatcher is varied in his attack on the arm, and in how he wrenches everything in. Jock does his part by really selling the amount of pain he is in. However, the ruthless manner in which Thatcher goes after the arm is really the star here. The finish is the culmination of that, as Thatcher doesn't lock on a submission so much as he just wrenches back as violently as possible on Jock's injured arm until he has to submit. File this one into the very good squash category.

Supreme Pro Wrestling: 11th Anniversary (04-17-2011) Bobby Hart vs. Timothy Thatcher This is for Thatcher's SPW Heavyweight Championship. There's a lot to like about this one, but just as much not to like. I'm not familiar with Hart at all, and while he tries it's pretty clear he's not capable of hanging with Thatcher. That's one of the things to not like about the match as they run through a lot of mat sequences that are based off of the idea of the audience going, "Wow, aren't these two so evenly matched on the mat. Oooh, they both rolled away from one another to a standing position in unison, let's clap for them." To their credit Thatcher and Hart really have the audience with them and they do indeed clap for those sequences. They didn't completely work for me and it's because Hart is always noticeably a step behind Thatcher. He comes across as capable on the mat but as a guy who really doesn't have a plan but instead is just grabbing a limb because Thatcher grabbed a limb. Hart has decent strikes, and he's able to get a pretty loud crack behind his Elbows. Highlight of the match had to be a sequence where they did one of my least favorite spots; the back and forth Elbow strike exchange. However when they got to the part where they were screaming and hulking up both guys slowly lilted backwards and collapsed to the mat. A pretty ingenious way to turn a well known spot on its head. There's nothing in the match that rivals that moment, even if they do try to lay it in thick with a hard hitting finishing run. Still, by that point Hart is pretty blown up and is having to take a lot of time in between moves which in turn takes away from the momentum of the finishing stretch. Thatcher's work is superb, especially his selling which is often something I overlook when it comes to his skillset. I'm not sure if Hart has more upside, but he at least shows in this match that he is capable of being a pretty decent wrestler. Shave a few minutes off of this and maybe work around Hart's strikes more as opposed to him trying to hang with Thatcher on the mat and this would have been pretty good.

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (10-16-2010) Matt Carlos vs. Timothy Thatcher This is my third time seeing this match-up, and I've grown to like Carlos less and less. He's extremely limited as a pro wrestler, and every match he manages to show how limited he is. Thatcher keeps trying with the kid, but there's only so much he can do with a guy who seems to only know the same two or three moves. The first couple of minutes are interesting as they keep things on the mat and Carlos really works over a Side Headlock. Once they move beyond that though it's pretty much a case of Thatcher allowing Carlos to bust out his weak looking offense while they buy time until the finish.

Championship Wrestling from Hollywood: #3-07 (10-14-2012) Ryan Taylor vs. Timothy Thatcher Outside of the finish I really dug this match, or at least what I could see. There was a guy who kept getting in the way of the camera so I missed some of the transitions, but I saw enough to have a qualified opinion. Very mat based affair, but again Thatcher impresses both in how much he is willing to give to his opponent and in how he varies his arm based offense. This time out he added in a Yakuza Kick to Taylor's arm while it was trapped in the ropes. Stuff like that adds up, it really paints the picture of Thatcher as a complete wrestler who is attempting to vary up a recognizable formula as much as possible. A really good, and smooth back and forth contest, featuring lots of nifty transitions and great limb work from Thatcher. That's also why the finish doesn't work, because Taylor decides to say fuck you to all the limb work and lock in a Crossface where he's using his damaged arm for all the torque. It's not a smart finish, though I imagine it's a finish that Taylor sure thought sounded neato.

I will say that I think Dave is stretching it really thin with the "I wouldn't have been paid by NJPW, but by GFW" argument. It's one and the same at this point, and in either scenario it's a gig I'm glad he didn't pursue.

The difference there is that essentially MLB is the only game in town and Costas doesn't run a private business where he offers "objective" analysis of an entire field. Had Meltzer taken the gig his credibility should have been shot, but most probably would have ignored simply out of blind love for NJPW. This would be more akin to Costas owning Baseball Prospectus and doing announcing for the San Diego Padres while still purporting to be delivering unbiased analysis of the Padres product in his Baseball Prospectus work. What about all of the team owned networks (I'm thinking YES, SNY, NESN as I'm on the east coast) that employ sports writers or sports radio hosts to be a part of the broadcast/network. Occasionally those guys get flack for objectivity issues (by media talkers), but its never talked about as this disgrace to the profession. I think those being critical are reaching on this one, especially within the current sports media climate. In those cases they are being hired to provide objective analysis of a specific team. That carries with it the expectations that they will be critical of the team, but that they will also be somewhat biased. They shouldn't at the same time continue to produce content about the greater organizations their team is a part of. That's the issue here with Dave, and I believe Childs' post above mine gets to the ultimate heart of the matter,

Conversely the majority of people I work with and interact with have cut the Cable/Satellite cord and none of them are what I would consider people with an online presence. The truth is somewhere in the middle as there are lots of people who have cut the cord but aren't interested in WWE's product, but there is still a decent sized chunk who is either wary of cutting the cord, doesn't want to, or has no idea they can.

The difference there is that essentially MLB is the only game in town and Costas doesn't run a private business where he offers "objective" analysis of an entire field. Had Meltzer taken the gig his credibility should have been shot, but most probably would have ignored simply out of blind love for NJPW. This would be more akin to Costas owning Baseball Prospectus and doing announcing for the San Diego Padres while still purporting to be delivering unbiased analysis of the Padres product in his Baseball Prospectus work.

Like I said, didn't want to jump the gun until all the facts had been ironed out. I'm happy they didn't remove anything though, because if they do start removing content then to me that means all the libraries WWE owns are essentially useless and the Network becomes a service I have no real interest in at a certain point.

So, not confirmed yet, but read online that they have started removing old content to make room for more new content. Started with the 95 Nitros, as they are what has been removed to make room for new episodes of Countdown, Total Divas, and the like. I'm not jumping the gun until this is all ironed out and the facts are known. But, if it does come to be that they are removing old content then when I finish my PPV rewatch project I'll probably cancel my subscription because if they aren't going to make the Network a one stop hub for all of their library then I see no point in subscribing.

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (01-31-2009) Jeckles the Jester vs. Timothy Thatcher This is for Thatcher's APW Internet Championship. An odd match, mainly because of Jeckles, although Thatcher is off his game as well. Thatcher's timing is really off throughout the match, and he's out of position for more than one moment of Jeckles offense. This is not a performance to go into the plus column for Thatcher. Jeckles is impressive when he's throwing nasty elbow strikes, but that's pretty much the only time he's impressive. He's not that good at bumping or selling, and his non-strike based offense looks weak and is often hit in an ill timed fashion. All in all a very blah match, although I did like Thatcher cheating to win at the end, something I wish he would incorporate more often to fit his blue blood type character.

Reno Wrestle Factory: Unknown Event (Unknown Date) Will Rood vs. Timothy Thatcher I'm assuming this takes place at a later date than their previous meeting I reviewed. The reason for this is that they seem to have better chemistry, and Rood comes across as a much more refined pro wrestler. The match itself is pretty much an extended beatdown from Thatcher on the young Rood. It's about a ten minute match and Thatcher is on offense for eight of those minutes. When he does make his comeback Rood is iffy, mainly because of the way he chooses to go about his offense. Throwing a Dropkick works, but throwing awful looking windmill European Uppercuts does not. Standing in the middle of the ring and trading said European Uppercuts with Thatcher only makes him look worse when Thatcher's are delivered with such vicious crispness. Still, Thatcher does look very vicious here an seems to relish beating the snot out of Rood. I like that vicious streak in him, it's what makes me believe that he can take an opponent apart at will. It's a character quirk, and one that really makes him seem like a methodical killer.

Reno Wrestle Factory: Wrestlerawk (12-13-2011) Adam Thornstowe vs. Timothy Thatcher Hard hitting affair that was much the same as their first encounter, but better. It's a very simple match, worked around limb work and Thatcher grounding Thornstowe. To his credit Thornstowe keeps pace with Thatcher with no problems at all, and works in some of his own tweaks as well. I wasn't a fan of the big German Suplex near the end as it went against the arm work of Thatcher, but having the match end on a Cross Armbreaker almost made up for it. For as much as he was in control of the match Thatcher really gave a lot to Thornstowe, putting over his offense a bunch. I'd like to see a match between these two a few years down the line when both are even better.

Supreme Pro Wrestling: Unknown Event (07-17-2011) Paul Isadora & Timothy Thatcher vs. Sir Samurai & Alan Sanchez A match to set up an angle more than anything else. A lot of stuff happens, but it doesn't have any real meaning. I mean, everyone does their job: Isadora stands around like a bump on a log, Thatcher works the mat, Samurai bumps, and Sanchez gets the crowd pumped up. But, it's all for nothing as none of it means anything. One of those wrestling matches where maybe if I followed the promotion on a week to week basis the match would have more meaning in my mind.

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (09-18-2010) Vennis DeMarco vs. Timothy Thatcher Slowly worked very old school wrestling match. This is the sort of match that I could easily see fitting right in with the 1970s North American aesthetic, specifically the upper end WWWF stuff. They don't go for any real highspots. Rather, they work the match around the idea of wearing your opponent down. DeMarco doesn't look like much of a professional wrestler, but he is able to hang with Thatcher to a point. I say to a point because it becomes clear after a minute or so that Thatcher has slowed himself down and is helping to walk DeMarco through all the spots. It's not really a carry job, more of a cooperative job and it shows the ability of Thatcher to work at a level that gets the best out of his fellow worker. Very simple match, but really well worked, and quite good.

Pro Wrestling Bushido: Lucky Fest (03-16-2013) TJ Perkins vs. Timothy Thatcher Reviewed on Free Pro Wrestling.

All Pro Wrestling: Gym Wars (09-11-2010) Timothy Thatcher vs. Mr. Wrestling IV This is for Mr. Wrestling's APW Internet Championship. This starts out as a comedy match, and that's really where it's at its best. Thatcher is splendid as the dumbfounded heel who can't get a grasp on what Wrestling is trying to do. Watching Thatcher line up for a test of strength and the growing face of consternation he manifests as Wrestling keeps switching hands and refusing to lock up is quite funny. Wrestling really does have the comedy aspect of the art down pat as just about everything he did was able to elicit laughter from me. My hats off to Thatcher as well, because he had me laughing with his frustrated heel antics. Then they start wrestling and it's pretty pat once that happens. Nothing they do is egregiously bad, but it's all so vanilla. Thatcher hits his usual routine of arm based offense, but it has no lasting impact as Wrestling doesn't really bother to sell the damage. He hits multiple Polish Hammer's where the lead arm is his damaged arm, and he goes for a Backslide where his has to use his damaged arm to power Thatcher into position. Thatcher's offense can look as great as it wants, but if the opponent isn't selling then it's useless. Useless is a great way to describe this match, because though there's nothing terrible it all ends up coming across as mundanely useless. Stay for the comedy and leave once the wrestling starts.