Shining Wiz

1. Ibushi 2. AJ Styles 3. Brock Lesnar 4. Seth Rollins 5. Shinsuke Nakamura Ibushi is putting high level matches almost every time out, and being put in a position to really gain momentum. Styles' two year run of making all of us who ignored TNA continues with good matches against the most varied set of opponents. Lesnar is the best special attraction of the last 30 years. Rollins goes out and has solid matches up and down the WWE card. He's passed Bryan as the most skilled in ring performer in WWE. Nakamura kicked off the year with that great match with Ibushi, and while he hasn't been in the position to repeat that, he's solid every time out and ups the quality of everything he's involved in.

Yep, you and Meltzer, the paragon of shitty match ratings. I give this comment 4 stars.

Well, the Steve Austin/McMahon one wasn't intended originally to be put out on his podcast, but was advertised as a "Live Podcast on the Network". And the Jericho one won't be on his podcast, and to his credit he has made a point of saying it's not a podcast. And yes, you can turn a tv interview into a podcast, and you could air a podcast interview on tv. But if I'm watching it on tv, it's not a podcast. Words mean things, and the misuse of this one irrationally irritates me.

I knew you were referring to anarchist previously..sorry for being unclear. The problem with being publicly traded isn't that shareholders can vote, it's that having to report the financials every quarter is a killer. Say you want to turn Cena heel.....you know you'll take a short term hit on March, but also know that a year from now at Mania 32, Cena vs whoever could do HUGE business. The quarterly reports make the merch issue bigger than the long term vision. Add in that have to avoid controversial story lines, which is often the best way to get some eyes on the product and build to something. But when controversy literally costs you millions in stock drops, it's not worth it. So you end up with a milquetoast company. If the shareholders can't vote for any change then drop in stock prices isn't a problem. A falling share price doesn't hurt WWE's revenue if their ratings, attendance, merch sales are unaffected. The only reason a falling share price should be a concern is if it angers shareholders enough that they vote for a change in management, which isn't possible in WWE. Short-term drop in stock price is 100% a non-issue for WWE. Except where it greatly impacts the personal wealth of most executives, creates bad press for the company, effects negotiations with other businesses and, most importantly, seems to embarrass Vince McMahon.

This probably belongs in the pet peeve thread, but if you film it and air it on the network, it's not a podcast. It's a tv interview.

I really enjoyed that six man. They set up Goto perfectly for a challenge of Nakamura but added in a level of hate and anger from Goto that has me really wanting to see that match, and Makabe/Ishii continuing to beat the holy hell out of each other has me anticipating that rematch. Naito looked good even if he is an afterthought for the moment, and even Yoshi-Hashi looked ok (except for "LOOSE EXPLOSION" on his pants....must lose something in translation). If the multi-man's on every big show were that hot, I'd be happy.

Austin's response - No heat, just rumours.

So far from NJPW - Tanahashi, Okada, Liger and Naito. Naito could have some really good matches, and is someone I can see challenging for the TV or World title somewhere on the four shows. Not sure what they'll do with Liger, but he seems to enjoy putting on a show when he's in North America, so that should be fun too.

If you liked huge, exciting, larger than life personalities doing unpredictable things, then there's not much you'll enjoy right now. The storylines are actually probably better than they were back in the day (or at least more sensidical), but not enough that you won't detach a retina because of all the eye rolling and the fact that the personalities aren't big enough to make you not care about the stupidity. But if you like actual wrestling......god damn it blows away just about any era that came before it. Seriously - WWE has the deepest, most talented roster probably ever assembled as far as in ring talent. Now, that doesn't mean that everyone is great, and that wrestlers who are complete shite or not that great aren't all over the place just because they look good, but you might get a throw away match on a throw away show between two guys they don't know what to do with that ends up being a match of the year contender. And Brock Lesnar decided to be the best wrestler in the world every three or four months when he shows up, and it's awesome. And if you're really old school, and remember what it was like watching your local territory on tv Saturday's at midnight.....NXT. They take away all (alright, it's still wrestling...MOST) of the stupid, and basically make it all about "I want to beat you because I can get into contention/get a title shot/win the belt". It's GLORIOUS. And the wrestling is great, and the show is on a smaller scale. Seriously...you should check it out before they ruin it by thinking of ways to make it 'better'. Oh...and the BEST thing.....do you have a DVR? Great. That way you can tape RAW - did I tell you three hours of RAW is about an hour and half too much? - and skip the stupid stuff. Sometimes you actually get through the show in 30 minutes and don't really miss anything.

Oh....I forgot to mention the junior title match. I thought it was by far Omega's best showing as the cleaner. Hopefully his previous problems were just feeling out the character and Tanaguchi. I turned the show off before the trophy presentation after the main, but it sounds like this might be the show we look back to as the real beginning of Omega's run. Also seems like he might be moving out of the junior division, or that they plan to make the intereaction of the top juniors and heavyweights more fluid like they did with Devitt.

Just finished the main event (had to skip the Tanahashi tag and Okada slaying Fale because I value sleep), haven't read any thoughts anywhere, some quick take aways: - Ropongi Vice looks pretty good. I really enjoyed that match, and a fresh team in the juniors is.....refreshing. - I had low/no expectations for Kingdom, but again, really enjoyed that match. Anderson being enraptured at the end was silly, but getting there was fun, and anything that ends Guns and Gallows and gets Anderson back as a single, I'm all for. - really enjoyed the interactions between Nakamura and Goto. I'm looking forward to seeing that feud play out for the next while. Also, Makabe and Ishii tearing into each other is fun. I like that they didn't blw that match off here. Finally, Naito is the odd man out right now. He's got nothing on the go, which makes me think he and Ibushi might tag up a bit before the G1. - A month of the G1? Yes please, but my wife is going to HATE me in July. - Styles and Ibushi had a really good match I thought. From Omega quietly coming out, Styles taunting early, Ibushi proving he was the equal of the champ, and finally Omega causing just enough of a distraction to set up that sweet Styles Clash finish.....great defense for Styles, and a great showing for Ibushi. When he gets his next shot at the belt at WresleKingdom after winning the G1, he walks out with it.

Everyone who watched and listened to the Sopranos?

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Daniel Bryan Last fun match you saw: Riccochet vs PJ Black Wrestler you want to see more of: Dauiske Sakamoto Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): XWA, Fredericton, NB about six months ago Match you're most looking forward to watching: Styles/Ibushi Sunday morning Last fun interview/promo you saw: Lesnar on Raw Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Justin Roberts blog post on how he met Connoer Michalek (sp?) Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: Art of Wrestling with Thrasher Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: Mania main event Favorite recent post on this board: Anarchistxxx making everyone else on the board seem friendly and levelheaded Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling): New Japan telling unexpected stories

This is one hell of a read. He doesn't sound bitter, just sad that the memory of his friend is being used. https://medium.com/@JustinRoberts/believe-half-of-what-you-see-and-portions-of-what-you-hear-296f34743af4

Hope, yes. Expect, no.

I knew you were referring to anarchist previously..sorry for being unclear. The problem with being publicly traded isn't that shareholders can vote, it's that having to report the financials every quarter is a killer. Say you want to turn Cena heel.....you know you'll take a short term hit on March, but also know that a year from now at Mania 32, Cena vs whoever could do HUGE business. The quarterly reports make the merch issue bigger than the long term vision. Add in that have to avoid controversial story lines, which is often the best way to get some eyes on the product and build to something. But when controversy literally costs you millions in stock drops, it's not worth it. So you end up with a milquetoast company.

At least you caught my point. I don't think there's much more constructive to add to this discussion, though I will say the characterization of Dylan as being a "WWE mark" insinuating he'll polish their apples no matter what is going on is hilarious. I think a whole lot of people disagree with Dylan on a whole lot of things, but the last thing he should be insinuated to be is a shill for anything (save perhaps pro wrestling generally). Back on topic - Rusev is one of the best newcomers they've had in a while. There is a solid, skilled base of under 35 wrestlers in the WWE right now, and more just about ready in NXT, and if they're willing to pull the trigger on Rusev (though it could be argued that given his placement over the past year that they have) and a few others we may very well hit a few years of fresh, interesting product. I think this is where being a publically traded company accountable to shareholders is a big detriment to the shows, but that's a discussion for another time (which is probably in the past, but whatever).

1. Herodes says smart things. 2. Anarchistxx thinks he says smart things. As a non-American, when you watch Rusev angles, it's really hard to tell who is the bad guy and who is the good guy in them. They went a touch over the top a couple of times - I believe there was a reference to the plane being shot down in the Ukraine, Rusev saying America will die - but by WWE standards they were rather reserved with him. They lost me a touch when it turned away from "Putin loves Rusev" to more 1980's cold warish stuff - which is more a case of how Cena presented the build to the Mania match than anything Rusev did - but as soon as Rusev is in the ring, I'm sold. I think he has the potential to be the best 300 pounder since probably Vader. He's uniquely athletic with a different background than most guys have and managed to escape the cookie cutter mold that most new faces are cut from. On top of that, as has been mentioned by others, he does a ton of little things to bring the crowd into his matches and make them more than just athletic spectacles. The guy gets it, and he is one of the few who has the ability to take a random pairing of a match or a feud and make it work. I hope he survives the inevitable slide down the card, and that he doesn't slide far before bouncing back up. As for the comment that "EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY IN THE WORLD" gets into yelling matches every couple of months, that's 1) not what Steenalized typed, and 2) a really weird mole hill to build your opinion of his understanding of international politics or wrestling.

I don't think he means you can't rewatch a match 3 days later. I think he means watching a match 5 years later in isolation and out of context from what was going on around the match.

Tanahash not working hard is still better than most. I'll just hope last year was partially due to his back and he's up against someone less bland than Bennett and gives me something decent. And also hope some other folks come over with their working shoes on.

Tanahashi is the first NJPW talent announced for next month. While some may not be impressed with that - cough, Dylan, cough - I'm salivating at a chance to see him live, even if he's going to go half speed at best on nights 3 and 4.

The guy, after 40 years of following and writing about the ins and outs of pro wrestling, is still an unapologetic and enthusiastic fan. Good on him.

Would have been a nice call back to their previous match too. Oh logic.....

A slow drop down the card, then morphing into a comedy gimmick.

Sting never had a problem losing to someone. And, to be honest, there was absolutely no story between Sting and HHH, so they went with the only tenuous ties to each other they had. Despite Sting's efforts to not make it about that. Oh well.