Goodear

Scott Dawson is a bad name... why? This is in the Kassius Ohno territory of 'this is a name no one in the world actually has".

If anything, Dean should be able to finally breathe some new life into the title scene and picture due to having decidedly different motivations as a character than Rollins (which was pretty standard for a WWE heel) or Reigns (which was pretty nonexistent). A little anarchy is really what the promotion needs after a very sterile 2015.

As wrestling progresses and spots fall in and out of vogue, are there moves that should be retired as finishes as the sleeper and DDT have been (rightly or wrongly)? Are there moves ripe for a comeback as finishers?

I think the smaller cast helps the Reaction Shows where guys are able to breathe a bit more and give a bit more incite. I could see it going up to 3 guests with a host to keep things moving but I think this is an improvement over monster shows with 6 dudes. It helps when there are people of differing or strong opinions to go along with Johnny's generally optimistic takes as Kris can come off a little middle-of-the-road as he tends to do his best work as a historical perspective rather than a 'talking head'. His great historical grasp doesn't always translate to entertaining spot takes on the Reaction Show and This Week in Wrestling. I think he could serve as a good host in this setting throwing things from person to person.

Fun show although I think some of the choices in trials was a little ... myopic? Nit picky? I don't think I ever looked at Shawn Michaels' first IC title reign as something worth thinking about to the point of making it a 'chargeable' offense. The New Age Outlaws were a product of the times absolutely but also shouldn't be looked down upon for taking a Hail Mary tag run and making something out of it. Obviously a limited team and a limited pair of workers so they couldn't deviate from their formula but they aren't any worse than a number of Attitude era stalwarts. Taz wasn't pushed for a number of reasons most notably that the Radicals came right in behind him on his heels and scooped his heat. He also seemed to suffer from the higher production values of WWE where there wasn't the dark and gritty feel of ECW to make him look more bad ass. Under the brights he came off short and squat and that wasn't a recipe for success.

Solid show, Will seems to be having a harder time roping in the inmates lately as they pull the show around violently rather than letting Will steer the ship. Its like he's trying to drive and the others (minus Devon) keep grabbing the wheel and slamming on the pedals. Devon seemed to get lost in the discussion and didn't stand out in this format. He did a lot better in the GWE shows where he didn't have 3 guys talking over him. I swear to fuck, one day I will get one of the non wrestling references made on these shows. Wait, I knew who Flip Wilson was... go me.

If you mean that the audio for Gorilla is as loud as you guys are, then yes, it is off. If not, could you try and lower the announcer audio? It's like listening to the radio and television broadcast of a football game at the same time.

Awesome fun show. I really enjoy when the hosts like what they are watching and go into shows with an upbeat attitude.

This is probably a ridiculous request, but can you describe those? I've watched plenty of Midnight Express, but other than the Rocket Launcher and Flapjack I don't think I can name any of their finishers. Veg-o-matic was Stan grabbing a guy in a bearhug and leaning over so Bobby could hit him with the Alabama Jam. Too Cool used it a couple of times. The Double Goozle was a chop block from Lane hitting at the same time as a Bobby would land a Barry Windham-esque lariat. Don't know the Grave Digger.

I'm going to have to agree with Soup. The extra four guys in this left zero impression as Rush and LA Park take 95% the spotlight. This was my first time seeing any of the incidental guys and boy are they not super great. Pierroth looks like Hercules Hernadez reborn as the Super Invader, El Hijo looks like his dad eats all of his meals, Super Parka looked like he was made of wood and I'm not sure Toscano actually was there or if he was a hologram. I think you could sell me on an all out Rush vs. Park match but I have to agree Park looks bloated and unhealthy. I watched Rey Cometa vs. Cavernario as well and I liked Caveman in it but felt no connection to Cometa beyond thinking he was okay at best. Cavernario felt heavier here than I was used to seeing him which I think helped him make his bumps and offense look better. His backdrop on the floor was devastating and awesome. I would have liked more like his STF followed by a punch to the face to mean more than it did which was nothing as I though that would be a major spot in another time and place. The finish was executed okay but went over like a lead balloon. Cometa just didn't have the buy in of the crowd that he needed to pull it off.

I liked the dog collar match with Buddy getting some nice color off the chain salvo from Brooks and using the chain in the mouth as a sleeper hold showed some of that vicious streak I was looking for. I think his pulling the chain taunt and dropping on Brooks with it was a bit too cute by a 1/4 and it would have been more effective to just wrap it around his hand and drop a fist. But that is a nit pick. I'm picky. No one likes me. Anyway, I think was the strongest singles performance from Buddy I've seen with the tag match against Piper and Martel being better. I think the fraud thing works in a sense but Buddy seems aware that he is a fraud sometimes? It's hard to articulate but he's not as arrogant as he could be? I'm comparing him to a Larry Zybsyko who dripped with disdain and arrogance but could only back it up 60-70% of the time. And I know Larry is a great as well, but that's who you get compared to when you are in the running for the top 10 GWE. Im going to watch the Youngblood thing now and see how it works. Saw it! Buddy looked good but the booking was a bit backward and was probably hurt from watching it in a vacuum rather than in context. Jay comes out of it looking like a guy who couldn't beat Buddy with a referee in his pocket which is weird right? He's not a job guy here? Because Buddy owns his face and should have beat him in short order if Boyd wasn't actively helping him. I shouldn't feel like Rose is getting screwed and is justified in stomping Boyd in the head. It seems backward. Just to be clear since I'm obviously being hard on Rose in this thread. I'm not saying he's terrible. He's not. He's actively good. I just can't look at these performances and cosign on him being one of the best ever. He's super good though.

Johnny Sorrow presents, a Johnny Sorrow Production, "Brainbuster... now with an essay section!" The essay will be written on the show and the essays will then be read aloud. The essays will then be subject to pear review and the contestant will then defend his thesis. It will be worth one point.

Watched this because despite my general misgivings regarding Lucha, they do not apply to Rush who is my spirit animal. Maximo is actually probably third on my list of luchadores behind Rush and Negro Casas so I was excited to sit down and watch this today. I do not feel disappointed as Rush and Maximo are probably two of the most US style workers in CMLL as they do less mat work and work instead on beating the dog shit out of people if you are Rush and hitting his 3-4 really solid spots if you are Maximo. Holy fudge does Maximo hit that suicide dive like he is trying to actually kill himself. Just some of the best impact on the dive since Misawa's elbow variation. And he builds to those spots in a very effective and organic way. These two work well together as Rush can build the heat with the beatings and Maximo's spots work well as hope spots despite being physically outmatched. I think the seconds helped the match on some ends and were a minus in others as their brawl on the outside made me fear that Porky is about a week away from being in a coma. And Pierroth probably overplayed his part by interfering too liberally when he would have been more effective if he just did the entrance and took that one dive from Maximo before getting kicked out. That being said, I would highly recommend this to people who don't get lucha and need people to latch onto in order to gateway into the style. It's not indicative really but it will give you people to route for and follow.

I'm moving out of the Portland Bottle for a minute. Here's an interesting 6 man from the AWA with Rose teaming with Doug Somers and Alexei Smirnoff to take on the Midnight Rockers and Curt Hennig. What's interesting about it is going in I thought we'd see some interesting stuff from Buddy as he's done well in tag teams previously. However I actually left the match impressed by Doug and surprised by how effective Smirnoff was. Smirnoff really only plays a cameo roll in the match and only hits about 3 spots but all of them (a diving headbutt, a leap frog into a big boot, and a jumping boot) all looked really effective. Somers for not being a hyped talent really looked good here and he seemed to be the one doing most of the interesting work with a pair of gutwrench stomach breakers being his highlight. He also fed the faces as well as Buddy did which is saying something. Unfortunately I feel some confirmation here as Buddy is almost absent from the heat segment as he seems to want to work a more modern back and forth with Curt doing a couple rope running spots and a superplex reversal series. Again, I'm not seeing that second gear aside from a quick series of knee lifts off the ropes. I really want to see him get the advantage and do something with it. Instead he goes back to bumping way too quick for my tastes. He works in his rope tumble out of the ring toward the finish but I don't feel the delight in him being thwarted because he never seems to be successful. I talked about the reason that Rick Martel didn't work as a heel because he didn't stooge enough. Rose feels like he's all stooge and its hurting his appeal with me. Buddy is doing job duty here for Kerry in his WWF debut. Buddy is obviously not as his physical peak here. But he does a good job at being an enhancement talent here as he starts off with a little smack to Kerry before hightailing it out of the ring. This element is something I would have liked to see more out of him in other work as it gives us a clear reason to want to see him bump like he does. And he does indeed do that as he allows himself to be blocked and reversed on a hip lock and a body slam. He clearly can still post at his advanced weight as Kerry gets him up fairly easily. Buddy continues to feed well and works in the Andre caught in the ropes spot before transitioning right into the rope tumble. I think you could argue he is actually upstaging Kerry at this point but I only think you would notice it if you went in with a critical eye 100 years later like this. I cannot imagine someone watching this at the time and having that thought. Kerry gets his discus punch and Buddy takes his full jumping bump to put it over. I don't know how much Kerry had left in the tank at this point but Buddy did a nice job of getting him over. Back to Portland!

So I circled around to a second watch of the tag match against Ricky and Piper (frankensteiner!?), Hector, Iceman, and the 8 man. I think my earlier point where I thought Buddy did better when he had more tools to work with in tag matches hold true. The long baby face shine in singles matches is a steady thread throughout the matches and while it serves a purpose in the 2-out-of-3 falls match construction, it can be bit of a slog if Buddy decides to sit in arm bars that don't go anywhere for too long. His bumps can be dynamic and I think he would be a great Rock 'n' Roll Express opponent walking into drop kicks and drop toe holds. But I don't feel as though he demonstrates enough of a second gear like an Arn Anderson who stooges around in shine but murders guys once he's got an advantage. Buddy seems to work the same pace a lot so I don't get a sense of escalation where now things have changed and now I'm mad or scared or whatever emotion we need to see. He's emotionally even and it hurts match narrative for me.

The Revival are a delight to watch squash dudes as they can come off simultaneously playful, brutal and sadistic. I haven't seen a stomp into the one foot cover before which is a nice little surprise that Dash and Dawson seem to have stored in their back pockets. 3.0 was where they were supposed to be but didn't make as good of an impression as other developmental guys like say Tucker Knight. BAM continues to be a highlight for me as they work so well as a midcard heel tandem. I would like to see them get elevated again into the title scene but its crowded up there and they've been putting everyone over for a while now. I'd like to see them get something to do in the undercard at least rather than just elevate the Hype Bros over and over. I think Mojo has shown some actual growth since teaming with Ryder as a manic pixie boy but he probably needs some development character wise. I think seeing him outside the ring would help him. Speaking of which, the Carmella match was not exceptionally heated. This is probably due to no one really knowing Aliyah and this didn't really give us an insight into her character. Some of the pieces are there, but she needs to bring the character (whatever it is) out more. IT was good for a debut. Carmella... just needs to dial back on the wacky and ditch things that don't work (dropkicks, bronco busters) and work more to her strengths in terms of flexibility. I think her corner boot, superkick and finish are good starting points but she's got to cut the chaff from the wheat. She really seems inauthentic to me sometimes with her mic work and mannerisms. Again, keep the moonwalk, jettison the Badda Bing stuff. I skipped Asuka-Eva Marie after a while. It wasn't being worked effectively. Eva shouldn't have gotten any offense other than directly after constant Jax interference. The way the match was going, they were working way too even.

So I've watched some more Buddy in the past week including the Dusek match and it seems to me that it betrays some of the thinking that we have talked about with Flair about trying to have 'good matches' when he really shouldn't. Buddy bumps around pretty hard for a guy who is supposed to be a joke contender including dropping the second fall to a guy who is clearly below him in the pecking order. From this standpoint it almost makes all his other contenders look worse when he is taking the same bumps for Dusek that he would for a Piper. I actually think Dusek does an okay job in his role of throwing some really weak looking punches once he's underneath to highlight he's out of his depth but I don;t feel as though Rose should have registered them at that point. I think its the downside of Rose's style that his stuff is mostly reactive so to fill time, he has to take his bumps. Offensively he seems to be somewhat shallow with only the Robinson backbreaker and a knee drop standing out when he works on top. I think honestly Buddy seems to do better in tags as his stuff with Ed W (I'm not looking it up) against Piper and Martel seemed to have more life as he had more conventions to play with. I'm going to look at some more tonight if I have a chance.

I hear that Hansen guy may have worked Japan once or twice. Not sure though.

Kelly did an hour podcast making Savage's case. Circling back to Savage who I gave a number one vote to because he's awesome from pretty much every perspective I care about as a professional wrestler. To Whit: From the holistic view, Randy's skill set is virtually immense. Randy could bump like he was shot in the face and hit the mat with a force that if you blinked, BAM he's already on the canvas. Randy could limb sell and sell generalized damage to build sympathy with ease (knee injury during the Flair World Title WWF series being the most obvious example). Randy's strikes were varied and on point: jabs, elbows, the bend the guy over and kick him in the chest... all looked solid and were great in control segments and in the rally. He could work heat and was awesome underneath. His aerial work was groundbreaking and his top rope elbow is an iconic finish. He had unique psychology especially as a heel where he would use the whole ring as a weapon and would utilize spacing in a way no one else did or does. Did anyone ever spend more time going in and out of the ring than Savage? Maybe, I didn't have a stopwatch on him. From the great matches sense, Randy has great matches with a variety of guys with a variety of different skill sets (Warrior, Hogan, Flair, Steamboat, Tito, Lawler etc etc). While some might look at his planning methodology as a crutch, I cannot bring myself to care. Results oriented business allows for all sorts of different ways of getting to the end goal. He's also underrated as a tag guy with his team with Lanny actually being effective foils for the Rock 'n' Rolls. From the cultural perspective, Randy Savage is probably in the top 5 of cross over stars all times. Who doesn't know the voice, the outfit, the snap into it? Who hasn't done the Savage elbow off a diving board into the pool? And while that 'doesn't count' it reflects his charisma and uniqueness which do. Randy Savage is wrestling to me and to a great many people. He's loud and unique and colorful and awesome. And he's awesome. Just so goddamn awesome.

Don't you die on me!

Boo! Figure out if its Eddy or Eddie! Boo!

Finally people can stop whining about Bret. And start whining about ... lets see. Terry Funk. He's terrible! Booo Terry Funk! Booo!

The Ivan match with Billy Graham from Mystery Titans Theater was legitimately good. The slow pace accentuated the explosion of the Polish hammer while thy maintained a really great struggle over the holds as Graham sold like a mother and Putski ground his stuff in. It felt legitimate from inside the wrestling bubble were you can Irish whip people. I'm starting to think Fuji was actually really good at his job. I'm interested in looking back at his career at some point. How awesome is that in a thread of the top 25-11 workers of all time, we're talking about Putski, Strongbow and Mr. Fuji?

Let me tell you about the relative greatness of Ivan Putski.

Looking back on the threads about how people aren't doing their research or whatever, I have found personally that if I don't like a guy or style on a first or second watch, that I'm far less likely to continue to invest time in that direction. It feels as though at that point, I am working toward confirming a consensus rather than organically following a trail of stuff I actually enjoy. And this is not supposed to be work for me. I already have a job. And as such, I'm far more likely to not invest time in deep diving into joshi for instance when I watch a recommended match and don't enjoy it. You can look at this as lazy if you like, but I think it helps explain why people's lists may explore one niche or another but not all of them. The mainstream is going to be more prevalent simply because its the gateway 90% of the population took to get into the hobby. I don't see how we would get around that.