The Man in Blak

Or maybe it's 1982 and Robert Christgau has albums from Ornette Coleman, George Clinton and Kid Creole & The Coconuts ranked higher on his Pazz and Jop list for that year than Legendary Canon Entries like Thriller, Prince's 1999 and Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. This is one of the most well-known curatorial voices in the history of rock criticism we're talking about here, not whatever hipster strawman windmill you seem so hellbent on chasing. And he was pretty fond of Exile on Main Street too. All critical viewpoints don't have to come from the same place or methodology, as you yourself have described in other threads. Dibiase offered things as a worker that were certainly valuable to wrestling promotions and I could very easily see a sort of sabermetrics-y "value over replacement talent" case being advocated here. But you're not really doing that. You're making allusions to different aspects or mechanics related to the steadiness of his work from time to time, but you typically fall back on vague generalities about how Dibiase was "a ring general" without really putting forward a compelling argument as to why that even matters in a discussion where more people are concerned with high-end expression than yeoman's work. (Including yourself, if your dutiful lists of high-end matches in Jumbo and Flair threads are any indication.) You can feel as strongly as you like that it's self-evident, but holding so closely to that sort of thing feels a bit antithetical to a project like this. It was "self-evident" to critics for years that Sgt. Pepper was the greatest album of all time until it wasn't; nowadays, it's not even a lock that you'll see it as the most highly-ranked Beatles album over Revolver. The canon is always changing, not just because of the performers and works (matches) that enter it, but because those performers and works have the power to change what we find meaningful and valuable in the medium itself.

Cena and Cesaro posted a photo of their CrossFit workout a couple of years ago and Seth Rollins did a CrossFit-centered interview with Men's Journal a few months back, so it's certainly a known quantity in the WWE training regimen, even if it's not the most popular method throughout the roster as a whole.

One big difference between the "commentary track" approach that Austin used for his WM13 podcast and Flair's (or Conrad's) approach for RR92 is that Austin got all of his advertising copy out of the way first before starting the match, making it easier to just synch up and watch/listen all in one go. With the RR92 commentary, the ads keep popping up in the middle of the discussion, which makes things feel a little disjointed.

It's less about critical discernment and more about optimism vs. (completely justified) pessimism. Everybody knows how the storylines in 1980s WWF played out and, thus, the book is closed and open to critique. With any contemporary product, though, the book is always being written and, thus, there's always a possibility of a turnaround. And Johnny seems to have far more faith in the current WWE booking to turn the ship around than most people. (More than I do, at any rate.)

Well, yeah. Triple H -- and, to a lesser extent, just about anybody else that had a significant role in the Attitude Era -- has been positioned as a god, a true star amidst a sea of Superstars ™ whose participation in any match is Something Noteworthy, so the fans are excited to see him...because they're excited to see something (anything) meaningful.

Compare and contrast with Brock destroying everything on the Raw after WrestleMania 31.

That was a really bizarre Rumble match. Somehow, the Styles/Zayn/Owens middlecard stuff ended up being booked really smartly, while everything else was utter nonsense. The Wyatt Family elimination of Brock not only killed the crowd, but further exposed the indefensible psychology of the Reigns beatdown-and-not-quite-stretcher-job. Why didn't the League throw him back in the ring and eliminate him right there? The way that they book Reigns almost makes me feel like they still, even now, have no idea how Daniel Bryan (and, to a lesser extent, even Reigns himself) got so over in 2013/2014. They look at Bryan vs. The System, see the Authority earning nuclear heat through their meta-booking as The Real Cause, and keep sending Reigns out on a kite in a thunderstorm to try to get lightning to strike twice.

Silly thoughts: - Is it possible that Flair somehow finds a way to show up in this, even if it's to eat a quick elimination? Could he even be physically cleared to go? - If they decide to sidestep Roman/Brock 2 for WM, could Brock end up drawing #2 here and providing a mini-rematch at the beginning of the Rumble to give people a taste of a real rematch at a card later on in the year? - Would they be incompetent enough to book Daniel Bryan in this thing without letting him win it? The Rumble provides so many interesting opportunities for great booking and memorable moments, so it seems impossible that they would completely screw this up three years in a row, especially with the belt on the line. This has to be a turnaround year for this event, right?

This thread has to have some video of the Hamrick bump: I've got Hamrick tabbed as a guy that I want to see more of, especially after Dylan's post, but that bump is just ridiculous (and I mean that in every sense of the word). Owen had the best set-up for it as a tease for a dropkick through the ropes but, without that set-up, it almost looks like a botch. Hamrick's story about working Owen and the reactions that he got from people in the WWF when he did that bump is pretty interesting too, for what it's worth.

Well, now we need a list. Also, Undertale is fantastic and I would nominate Papyrus for GWE before I would ever consider voting for AJ Styles.

I wonder how Chris Hyatte feels about John Tenta and the definition of workrate.

I continue to be interested by this because I do think it is held against him. Why aren't we seeing Earthquake in top 10 lists? "Because he didn't have great matches". Okay, well why didn't he have great matches? You see the point? This is sort of circular, though, isn't it? "Why is Tenta's approach to not bump as much as other big men (Vader) held against him?" "Because he wasn't in great matches." "Why wasn't Tenta in any great matches?" "Because he didn't bump enough to make them great."

This is more of an exploratory nomination on my part, but I think he could be fodder for interesting discussion. He's held tag belts in six different promotions/territories, including Stampede and Puerto Rico. A stout and feisty character with one of the best running elbow drops you'll ever see. A twenty-five year career in the ring that has been followed up by a notable run as a trainer, if that sort of thing plays any role in your GWE criteria.

Vince never had to work a rigorous in-ring schedule. He never had the responsibility of carrying someone less experienced in the ring. He never had to worry about taking a receipt from whoever he was working with that night. Unless he has an undocumented secret life as a luchador that we have not yet discovered, he has never had to do anything that resembled the totality of a career as a professional wrestler. Just...no.

What are the tools to be a ring general, though? What are we using to determine and assign that status onto a worker? Do we use testimonies from other workers? Chris Jericho called Triple H a ring general once. Is it solid matches with mediocre talent? What do we have to measure that ring general's influence vs. an inconsistent talent having one of their better matches?

Okay, I didn't write a review, but I found a Jeff Bowdren review posted here that might suffice: http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/17546-riki-choshu-vs-animal-hamaguchi-njpw-061290 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/17592-riki-choshu-kantaro-hoshino-kuniaki-kobayashi-kensuke-sasaki-shiro-koshinaka-vs-animal-hamaguchi-super-strong-machine-tarzan-goto-hiro-saito-masanobu-kurisu-njpw-062690 http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/6194-jeff-bowdrens-top-matches-of-the-80s-list (Jeff Bowdren's review is buried in the middle of Bix's OP.)

There's a non-negligible chance that I may end up leaving both halves of the Miracle Violence Connection off of my ballot. Gordy has virtually no shot, Williams is already in the 95-100 range and I'm spending more of my crunch time trying to hash out the bottom of my list than the top.

Hanson had a TV title shot against Lethal last summer, so it's not like it's the first time (or even the first time in a long time) that they've dipped into the tag division for title contenders. I don't know that Nick Jackson is a guy that jumps off the page as a great candidate from that group, but the Bucks are one of the more consistently over acts that regularly appear on RoH TV, so it makes sense to give a match like this a shot.

This is awesome. (It's an image from Meltzer's twitter feed that I guess I can't hotlink here. Thanks, message board software!)

One of my favorite entrances ever -- both from a musical and a video/production standpoint -- for one of my least favorite groups ever. I think the group actually peaked in '97 when Michaels was drawing ridiculous heat but, even then, praising that run feels like cheating, since Shawn and Hunter were given such a disproportionate amount of latitude.

Placing a note here to come back and write up a third review for Animal Hamaguchi at some point (maybe later rather than sooner) so that he can be nominated. There are two already in the yearbooks, so he's just one review short.

Okay, let's try to run through this Luger match: They break from the usual start with a chase where both Bret and Luger get to work the crowd a little bit. (I'd ask why Luger is running from Bret at the beginning -- he's still working the Narcissist gimmick here -- but that feels more like a Luger issue than a Bret one.) Bret transitions into some opening armwork and he's not just sitting in holds - he progresses through a couple of different armbar modulations during the opening shine, driving his knee into the side of Luger's head to further stretch the arm, then switching to the front to work the shoulder more. Luger eventually gets to a rope break, leading to a cheapshot elbow and some demonstrative selling of the arm. Luger continues to work the crowd as he dumps Bret outside and roughs him up a bit with the apron. Then Luger decides to grab a side headlock and walk aaaaaaall the way to the other side of the ring before trying to put Hart into the outside railing, which is like a glowing red sign for Hart to counter (and he does). Some decent fire from Bret as he pounds on Luger in response, who's trying to get some separation outside the ring. They get back in and Luger begs off, but Bret is having none of it, pounding on Luger until he gets a thumb to the eye. Luger re-establishes and shows some power with a couple of irish whips to the turnbuckle -- no sternum-first bumps here! -- but seems to lose his way a little bit as he goes for a nearfall/reversal sequence framed around jawing at the referee (which continues even after Bret interrupts him with a school boy for a nearfall). Luger feeling that he already deserves to win is an interesting bit of character work as narcissistic hubris, I guess, and Hebner tries to pay it off with a faster count on Bret's school boy, but this entire sequence feels like something that would have been more effective if it happened later in the match. Luger eventually follows this with a set of chinlocks. Bret draws the crowd in a bit on the first chinlock before working his way up to a top wristlock counter, which Luger cuts off with a hair grab in a decent heel spot. The second chinlock is a more standard comeback and cutoff -- a missed opportunity for both guys to do something more interesting there. And, again, Luger continues to take his time throughout this match, overtly telegraphing every hope spot for Bret. A sunset flip reversal has Luger showing some ass in more ways than one, then a suplex reversal teases a comeback for Bret. Bret ducks a wild punch and pulls Luger into a Weaver Lock, er, sleeperhold, but Luger drives him back into the turnbuckle to cut him off again. That's a nice nod to history there, even if I imagine it's more attributable to Luger than Bret. Now we get an empty roll-up reversal/counter-reversal sequence goes nowhere and Luger again takes his sweet time following up; that's one cutoff too many from Luger, I think. Luger finally turns around and returns to Bret, whose oversell of that failed rollup attempt pays off as he catches Luger by surprise with an inverted atomic drop and a clothesline to buy a nearfall. Bret meanders a little bit with some punches before getting the Russian leg sweep for a nearfall. Maybe Bret was trying to tease yet another Luger cutoff? Bret surprises the crowd with an inside cradle for a nearfall, then we get the backbreaker and elbow drop from the second turnbuckle for another nearfall. Luger is doing a good job of milking these nearfalls with late kickouts. Bret grabs a side headlock, Luger pushes off and they collide. A roll-up by Bret gets two, then he shakes off a roll-up attempt by Luger before going for the sharpshooter and inviting a Razor Ramon run-in, which ends the match. That last set of roll-ups was so awkward and out of place for both guys that I wonder if Hall missed a cue to run in when they collided with each other. Do I think the match is great? No, but I'd say it's good, at least until the busted finish. It's interesting that you feel that Luger outworks Bret here; Luger is certainly more demonstrative, but his pace in the match is so glacial that, eventually, most of his schtick starts to feel like wasted time. It never feels earned in this match - Luger isn't full of himself because he's a great wrestler, he's full of himself as the Narcissist because he has a great body (which is substantially off target from Luger's more effective characterization as a cocky heel in NWA/WCW before this.) I will certainly concede that one of Bret's bigger weaknesses as a babyface is that he doesn't really show a great deal of fire but, even if he did here, I think it would feel out of place because Luger never shows any sort of emotional escalation or mean streak while he's on top either. You could argue that Bret should be selling more of Luger's schtick early on with some animosity, I guess, but there's no real history between the two and that doesn't really line up with Bret's character. (And maybe that's where we need to return to GOTNW's point about stoicism in North American wrestling.) For Bret, victory is the preferred form of revenge, so he simply outwrestles Luger during his shine and forces him to cheat to get the upper hand, which is basic babyface work. Maybe one of those arm drags early on could have led to Luger bailing out to take a powder while Bret played to the crowd a bit, but they already sort of hit that note with the ending to the opening chase. I also don't see this match as Luger outworking Bret. He might be working harder, but he's certainly not working smarter - his trip all the way across the outside of the ring in the opening is silly and the slow/fast count contrast sequence with Hebner happens too early in the match for the fans to take it as much more than a too-subtle comedy spot. Ultimately, I see this as a solid match -- if you put a gun to my head for snowflakes, let's say ***1/4 -- where Luger spends a bit too much time on top trying to escalate the fan reaction without escalating the actual action in the ring. I don't mean that as a sort of MOVEZ~! critique as much as an observation that Luger's character work takes away more from the match in pacing than it adds in emotional engagement.

I've been trying to keep an open mind with Michaels, especially as I've been checking out his early Midnight Rockers tag work, but he has such an uphill climb for me for so many reasons in and out of the ring. Right now, my list has every member of the Kliq out of the Top 100, with Waltman being a guy that just barely missed the bottom of the list; I feel like that's sort of poetic.

You've basically done a wrestling equivalent of a Let's Play video, which is a very popular type of video that features running commentary over video games. This is not a bad thing. (If anything, this is something that should be happening a lot more with wrestling, though I suspect that rights/fair use issues might be even more of a pressing issue for wrestling than they are for games with these types of videos.) One recommendation - rather than posting one long two-hour video for the whole card, you might consider breaking the video uploads up by matches, just to make them a little easier to consume and/or revisit in segments. You can always put them in a YouTube playlist to string them together into a single experience for anyone who wants to run through the whole thing in one go.

Ambrose was red hot coming out of the Shield breakup, but they have swung and missed on just about everything he was involved in after Money in the Bank 2014. 2014: - They bait-and-switched his match with Rollins on Battleground 2014 when the Ambrose/Rollins feud was arguably at its peak. - On a Raw leading up to SummerSlam, Ambrose takes the next step in this bitter blood feud and...pranks Seth Rollins by pouring soda and popcorn into his Money in the Bank suitcase. - They had Ambrose pick the Lumberjack Match stipulation for SummerSlam 2014, where he promptly loses anyway due to interference from Kane. - Ambrose ended up answering an open challenge from Rollins at Night of Champions 2014, only to have a brawl with Rollins broken up by security and the Authority. No match. (Again.) - Ambrose finally got a main event match with Rollins at Hell in the Cell 2014, which was completely torpedoed by Bray Wyatt's hologram interference in a truly terrible angle. Rollins wins. - Ambrose gets himself disqualified and loses against Bray Wyatt at Survivor Series 2014 because reasons, I guess. - After a meandering twenty-five minute stunt show match, Ambrose decides to explode his own face with a gimmicked television and lose to Bray Wyatt at TLC 2014. 2015: - Ambrose makes the final four at the 2015 Royal Rumble, but gets tossed by Kane and Big Show, triggering a massive backlash from the crowd against Roman Reigns' telegraphed win. - Dean gets shunted into an undercard IC title match with Bad News Barrett at Fastlane 2015 and loses by getting himself disqualified again. - He continues his IC title pursuit with the opening IC title ladder match at Wrestlemania 31, which ends up being won by Daniel Bryan. - Ambrose opens Extreme Rules 2015 in a goofy Chicago Street Fight with Luke Harper that re-used the two segment gimmick from Piper/Goldust at WM12. And he wins on PPV for the first time in almost a year! - Sheamus beats Ambrose by DQ for the King of the Ring network special. - Somehow, Ambrose gets included in the Fatal Four Way main event for the world title at Payback 2015 with Randy Orton, Rollins and Reigns. Rollins wins. - Ambrose pins Rollins at Elimination Chamber thanks to a second referee, but the decision gets reversed to a DQ win for Ambrose. Ambrose steals the title anyway in one of his better written moments of this period. - Just to make sure they didn't make the same mistake twice and boost Ambrose again, Rollins decisively beats Ambrose in a lengthy (and underwhelming) minute main event ladder match at Money in the Bank 2015. No interference, no shenanigans. From there, he's mostly been relegated to "second banana" status with Reigns with the exception of Survivor Series 2015, where he had one of his best WWE singles performance against Kevin Owens in the run up to the tournament final against Reigns. Which -- surprise -- he lost. The booking and writing surrounding his character have been dreadful for a long time running now, but that doesn't excuse the opportunities for lengthy main event matches with Rollins that have been decent at best. In the process, an alarming amount of his PPV losses have established him as a clueless babyface that makes Sting look like a chess master. Pair that lack of credibility with a tendency to fall into schtick with stuff like the rebound lariat -- which is a cool spot that someone has decided has to be in every match, even if Ambrose deliberately falls into it -- and you've got a guy that is nowhere near where he was in the summer of 2014.