Goodear

The other being? I will admit that I have a soft spot for the Hayes/Garvin version of the Freebirds since I never saw the original version growing up. Since I didn't have the background of the Birds being these legendary figures, I was able to appreciate the new version for the Wile E. Coyote cartoon characters that they were. Just a great midcard heel heat magnet team that could rile the crowd in the second or third match on the card before getting pinned with a sunset flip. A team that could literally give the crowd nothing to cheer for 20 minutes as they stalled, goofed and stooged around like Larry Zbyszko with a perm. Granted they could ham it up and eat a Johnny B. Badd for lunch if they used their powers for evil, but what a great roadblock team for the Southern Boys or Rock'n'Rolls. What a great team to put over the Steiner Brothers as Rick and Scott rose up. They could just fill out the card so nicely.

Got to watch this on Hulu Plus today because my $9.99 a month goes there. Liger was okay-ish but he's obviously not in his prime and I don't have an attachment to him that makes me overrate his stuff. The match felt like it had very little heat on it because Breeze doesn't work great heat segments on top. I think the biggest loss to the match was the hook up to the selfie stick on the big screen so you could actually see the pictures of Breeze and models and of Liger snagging the stick. I would call this inoffensive and completely optional to the show's experience. English & Gotch versus Blake & Murphy suffered from Team BAMF not being great working heat segments. They do a good job though of working to their strengths of ring positioning and feeding their opponents. I wish they would interact with the crowd a bit more but they aren't a bad poor man's Heavenly Bodies. Alexis obviously carries the act and has great facial expressions as a second. Aiden & Gotch had a great showing with Gotch being able to do old school stuff and English having a great arm drag and senton bomb. Blue Pants was certainly over, but her actual physicality was off with her slap and tackle looking wrong for some reason. Apollo was good and explosive but, like most people think, I don't think he got to string enough stuff together in order to build some momentum. The tumbles into calling for 'tens' was a good opening bit but the match should have moved more, cut out the under the armpit chinlock and prolonged the guerrilla press hold for a bit rather than just lifting him and dropping him immediately (maybe have a walk around). I'll say it. Baron Corbin outperformed Joe. People took the Corbin under the minute matches to imply that he couldn't do anything other than a right hand and End of Days. I think he showed well here selling especially off the back brain kick and the Kokina clutch where he popped awake after the match. His added offense here looked good with the swinging rock bottom and the choke slam that led to the finish looking good. I liked the finish a lot with it coming off as a veteran taking advantage of a tiny opening. Joe looked sluggish to me and really, I'm starting to get the impression Joe's act works with small guys and bump freaks and no one else. When else has it worked? Sasha vs Bailey was a great match with great emotion that made up for the one or two rough patches that happened most obviously the missed Baileycanrana which was supposed to be a block but Bailey just whiffed badly. But that is glossed over from the strength of the story lines running through the contest. I think that part was perfect as someone who actually watches the show. I think a cold watcher could pick up on these things but wouldn't get the full nuance despite the excellent prematch package. I thought the Four Horsewomen thing worked just fine as Sasha is defined as doing whatever it takes to succeed including mind games and heel work (which was fairly muted, honestly). They can compete and still be friends if you are treating wrestling like a sport which seems like a popular sentiment. I feel like Owens and Balor is getting slept on a little. Loved it, thought it was nice and brutal without just being a Edge-Jeff Hardy stunt show. I appreciate using the edge of the ladder as a weapon as a ram rather than just setting up ways for people to fall off of it. The only time that happened at the end was part of the ending and worked due to Owen's character notes. He was on point as usual. Balor still has connection issues with me as I can barely relate to him.

And I'm sad no one hit a Canadian Destroyer on Big Cass.

Jerry Lawler & Jeff Jarrett vs. The Moondogs: Concession Stand Brawl This was all I could find of Lawler and Jarrett teaming up and this isn't even a tag match really. I was trying to find anything else really but this was all that came up. I'm as frustrated as you. This is a fight and as fights go its kind of meandering and doesn't go a whole lot of places other than the concession stand where the guys throw stuff at each other. The most interesting point was when Jerry was trying to drown a Moondog in a sink but that would have been better if the roles were reversed and was used as a exclamation point rather than just another comma of blunt force trauma.

Arn Anderson & Ric Flair vs. Dusty Rhodes & Ron Garvin: NWA Worldwide 1986 Enjoyable sprint helped by a hot crowd and David Crockett losing his god forsaken MIND. This match basically had no heat segment to speak of as the faces just pinball Flair around as he stooges and flops like a mug. The match never pauses to catch its breath which is a slight shame as Arn is great at working heat but this is just so enjoyable. Flair just goes right at Ronnie at the bell and it plays into the hands of the faces as they just wail on the Horsemen who can't hold the faces down for more than 10 seconds at a time. The closest the Horsemen get is when Arn gets a body scissors on Garvin but Ronnie turns it into a mount and a punch to the mouth immediately. I felt satisfied after this 8 minute match as showing us that Ronnie and Dusty can take the Horsemen in a fight. The Horsemen would need to try something else to get ahead. As this is a slightly random selection, I don't think this really showed us what the Flair/Arn team could really do as they (if I recall correctly) did their best work against mid card babyfaces where they could dictate the pace and work heat segments and stooging hope spots.

Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta vs. Harley Race & Dick Slater 82' Dec Tag League Story here is Baba is an unbeatable force of nature and you won't beat him no matter what! Who is that Jumbo guy? He don't matter! Baba IS. There were certainly other choices that could have been made here to make this more compelling as Race starts off during the handshake building up his inevitable collision with Baba. Unfortunately this narrative string promptly gets deflated as Jumbo tags him in while he has Race in a headlock. So rather than milking the moment and letting the face come in to triumphantly stand off with the heel, Baba only comes in when he has the advantage. That sucks! The second half of the match is a long heat segment on Baba which is somewhat deflated when I thought he kicked out of a backdrop suplex/middle rope headbutt combination at a zero because Lou Thez is a shitty referee and was counting off camera. This was also after a piledriver on the concrete but that move means less than nothing in Japan. Baba comes back from a bunch of punishment by tossing Slater into Race and getting a Russian legsweep. Jumbo should have just taken the night off since he played very little part in this encounter. Slater was in the ring more but didn't really capture your attention in any meaningful way. Watching some more Jumbo and Baba while typing up my thoughts, they come off very much like two guys with little to no continuity. They don't follow normal structure for sure, but that structure works and what they are doing, doesn't. Best part of the match was Slater and Race dropping a double knee, that was pretty swank. Notes in Spoiler

Stan Hansen & Genichiro Tenryu vs Abdullah the Butcher & Tiger Jeet Singh Singh is notoriously awful but I've seen enough Stan taking on actually good wrestlers that I wanted to give this a shot to see how he and Tenryu did with a lesser talent. I also figured it would be unlikely that Stan would be able to guzzle Abdullah and I wanted to see how Hansen would react. Honestly its not a bad outing as Tiger is not the worst thing I have ever seen and is not out of place in this context. He's there to brawl and stuff and he actually works cuts once they are open so that puts him one up on Brian Cage. If anyone is really the fish out of water here it is Tenryu who reacts to the brawl by selling a bunch and coming back in flurries when Stan hands him an advantage. He seems to take the worst of the ECW style roam around the arena but as he comes back bleeding from assorted punishment. I personally find the most effective use of blood to be when I know directly where it came from as opposed to in this match where Abby is just bleeding at one point. The backdrop suplex spot with Abdullah, while visually appealing, felt out of place here as it came from The Butcher putting on a headlock and not having a fork in his hand which made it seem like an artificial set up. The Meat Cleaver elbow is always a treat and the finish was fine although Genyru's lariat isn't half as good as Stan's. Looking at the Tenyru & Hansen team individually, Genryu really came off as the sidekick in this setting as Hansen seemed to be carrying the team and making saves. This can work if the sidekick is sympathetic or the mentor emotes in some way, but I don't think that was the case here as Stan hardly seems to notice Tenryu is there half the time. This feels like two individuals in a match together to me rather than a tag team. Notes in Spoiler

I'm doing a one night viewing project tonight because the wife is doing an overnight pet sit watching a demon schnauzer. Since I hold out an insane desire to be accepted, I may be able to actually get a list of 25 tag teams together if I actually buckle down and put some damn effort. So tonight, I go through the tag teams in order of last posts and do a write up of one match per team selected almost randomly. Does anyone care? NO! But it is happening anyway Jack. Hart Foundation vs. Strike Force from WWF Superstars Nov 7th, 1987 This is the end of the Harts first tag team title reign and while we can look at the work on a individual level and say, "Hey, this is pretty good" I find it telling that there is a lack of a memorable third act to make it really come alive. We have to look at the Harts and consider what made them formidable in the first place and how does Strike Force overcome those obstacles to become champions. In my opinion, The Foundation was built around cheap shots and this match bears that out as they transition to the heat work off a knee from the apron and most of their offense is based off attacks from the guy not in the ring legally. That's not a bad thing to build around but in the end, Strike Force simply comes back and wins. There is no sense of them overcoming the odds in anyway individualized to the Hart's tactics and so it comes off as very generic and not exceptionally memorable. A miscommunication spot from the Harts or Strike Force doing a 'cheap shot' of their own would have been much more effective in my opinion. All in all, The Harts come off as though they are reading from the Heel's Handbook of Tag Team Wrestling and don't feel very special despite losing their tag team belts. The cheap shots have a nice appeal but Bret and Jim didn't feel nearly enough satisfied with themselves here to make it more enjoyable when they failed. Based on this performance, I would not rank them in the top 25 tag teams of all time. And yes, Bret takes the sternum bump to set up the hot tag. Notes in Spoilers

As a total NXT mark, I got about 4 minutes in before Kris called the 6'8" Sawyer Fulton being barely six foot. He's massive but working as a job guy. I mean the NXT 'formula' is to have job guys cycle through and out before coming back with a new package to start the push. Baron Corbin and Jason Jordan both did the same pattern.

I gotcha Parv. So looking at match number one, I feel as though the match suffers from a lack of an overall plot that ties the narrative together especially when it comes to building to a conclusion. It felt as though the head scissors work that started the match was especially long and went over the same ground time and again where by the second time we had seen enough to move the match forward. But it never really did and it didn't teach us anything about either guy other than O'Connor wouldn't stop going to the headlock. The actual work once they got away from that segment was much better with Murdoch's facials being especially good although again the repetition with kicking out and going to an almost amateur style side mount was less effective that it could be if they moved on to something else. The biggest flaw I would say was that the match never seemed to get into 2nd or 3rd gear for more than a few moments before down shifting back to 1st. The feeling I had was that neither guy felt closer to winning at the end of the match than at the beginning. It just feels like such a waste of minutes to get no where. In terms of Match #2, Dory and Jack seem as though they bounce around from spot to spot working holds that focus on different body parts. The work from a micro level was solid but it came off like a 70s spot fest with guys digging around a lot but the work didn't exactly flow well from section to section. The transitions were actively strong with the body scissors catch counter to the knee to the leg and then going to a Boston Crab was the highlight. I found Dory's uppercuts to be strangely off this match as historically I've seen him throw them up and into the jaw and these seemed more like they were going across the head. I think opening the match with the guys already going to spinning toe holds and figure fours could have done a good job setting a narrative but that thread wasn't really picked up as their attacks went all over the body. Murdoch and Jack are obviously the more emotive of the four people we saw (with Murdoch being more subtle if he isn't going over the top) and are the top two workers of the four (putting aside O'Connor being 50) and Dory may be at the bottom of the list.

Regarding Martel's heel work, from the Best Babyface Ever Thread... Having went back and looked at a bunch of Model matches today in order to determine an answer to this question, I came to the conclusion that Rick's performance was lacking in the most peculiar of heel mannerisms, namely looking 'like a bitch' or stooging. During his tenure as The Model, Martel did indeed demonstrate arrogance (both the quality and the bottle of perfume) and a certain willingness to thumb a guy in the throat which tended to be his go-to in terms of being a heel. However, what he never seemed to give the crowd was the sense of comeuppance that comes with acting the fool. The point in the match where the arrogant heel is hoisted by his own petard such as when Arn Anderson points to his brain only to turn around and get punched in the face or Vader misses a sit down splash off a sunset flip counter (I use that example to illustrate that even monster heels have these moments). Rick's performances lacked that moment in virtually every one of the matches I saw. Sure he would lose or miss a cross body out of a corner, but you never got him reacting to the miss or the loss. He was missing that part of the theater performance when Wile E. Coyote would look at the camera a moment before gravity made him pay the price for chasing the Road Runner.

The short, short answer is stooging or the lack thereof but it doesn't really belong in the Best Babyface discussion thread. I'll move my comments to his GWE thread.

SO... watched the match twice so I would look smart on the live broadcast and this is a pretty good Jack showcase but Jumbo puts him in some bad spots from a selling perspective. I say this because Jumbo works three different body parts during the course of the match in three very distinct sections. So when Jack is selling the leg, he can't sell the arm and when Jumbo moves to the back/ribs, Jack can't sell the leg. On a micro level, Jack's selling was appropriate and well done but long term? He was put in a impossible spot where he had to blow off previous work to move the match forward. I can't really blame him for that though. Jack works underneath really well and makes the most of his transition spots. The fight over a leglock where Jack bridged out of an attempted counter and then gave forearm shots to the ribs when Jumbo bridged up was the knees of bees. I would have liked to see him work on top a bit more as the action seemed dominated by Jumbo with Brisco only getting brief shines. The main issue I had with Jack was the repeat of the backbreaker spot that got the first fall in the third fall but only got two there. I just have a problem with that from a construction standpoint as it doesn't make contextual sense. If Jumbo had countered or Jack would have sold after the move and been slower to capitalize, it would have made more sense. Other than that I think Jack was really good but Jumbo drug him down. *** (Worth watching but not something I would call must watch or a classic)

Why even have a theme song game when Will only likes like four songs in total? Johnny totally needs Name that Tune for Brainbuster like yesterday. Johnny! Get on that shiz!

Oh yeah, but RAW is three hours now. How could I forget? It's a three hour show. A THREE HOUR SHOW. They have so much television time to fill. I like how this assumes that when RAW was two hours, WWE Creative was clicking on all cylinders and that these problems are something new, just like it somehow tricks people into thinking NXT is good because it's short, even though it's filled with the same opening dueling promo crap, characters without a strong hook and matches where people just kick out of stuff over and over. These problems have been there for 15 years. Of all the things you talked about, I really don't think these things are actually true about NXT. There are not long opening promos as studio production pieces and contract signings fill those 'talking' roles normally in segment five or six. The characters are a lot better developed with more people in the women's division with a clear direction than in all of the main roster (not using actual math but its probably close) and finisher kick outs are way more infrequent unless they go to a story like Zayn losing the belt to Owens which made sense conceptually.

Watching Hero versus Bentley I am not seeing a really good argument that he is projecting a clear picture of who he is and what he is trying to accomplish and it goes beyond his waistline. Historically speaking, I have seen the striking style succeed in one of two ways, either as a rough and tumble fight-fight-fight (Hansen or Harper) or as a precision surgical exercise (Shibata). Hero comes off like he is trying to be both at the same time much like CM Punk and like Punk, it comes off sloppy rather than pulling the best traits of either style. The rolling elbows and boots seem almost like a crutch here as Chris just goes back to them time and time again as both transitional and control tools rather than let them breathe so they have meaning. Hero can be a multi-tool worker but he's deliberately limited himself to striking with a touch of submission work. Sometimes that works with guys like Finlay and Regal, but Hero isn't tight enough to pull it off. From a construction standpoint, the kip up to answer a ten count is a sure way to wipe out 15 minutes worth of work and seemed completely opposed to the rest of his performance as a no nonsense fighter. Also, there seems to be no really difference in execution from minute one to minute twenty as the forearms seem to come with the same amount of energy and emotion. There is no sense of catharsis or release. To be fair, the limb selling was okay for Hero but it didn't really restrict him in any way which knocks off a point on the Chris Masters Limb-Selling Scale That I Just Made Up TM (Patent Pending) and nothing looked poorly executed. I think its funny you chose this match to say Hero's look isn't so bad when he's facing Bentley since Reed has an abysmal look and Hero better damn well be able to project something against him but it comes off that he is almost working too even against a guy with Pizza Brigade shirt.

If I were to pick one thing rather than trying to make a huge list of complaints, I would say that the episodic nature of the shows have significantly decreased. Things seem to be on a treadmill for extended periods so you miss virtually nothing if you don't watch an episode of RAW and less than nothing for a showing of Smackdown. Characters and storylines progress at a crawl with the steps in between plot points devolving to a systematic series of rote story beats like "Player 1 is distracted by Player 2 being on commentary" which have been used to the point of tropes. The last thing that felt like it mattered was Kevin Owen's debut and that was over three specials ago. I don't think I've watched a show since and I don't feel as though I've missed any big moments. This ties into a lack of consequences to the actions of the participants in this revolving narrative but also to the malaise of the writing.

I haven't listened to the show yet because its 6:30 am on a Sunday but can you add time stamps for the falls to the description for the shows? There are a lot of topics discussed on the Week in Review and some are of more interest than others for me and it would be great if I could leap to the areas of interest. Thanks!

NXT is the best. Just a snappy hour of programming with a nice squash-squash-feature-squash-squash-main event structure especially lately. Regal is outstanding as the beleaguered General Manager who has to deal with lunatics like Bull and Breeze while also managing psychopaths like Owens. The commentary team while weak in a lot of areas (Byron is a poor face representative on color) does a good job of not making anyone look like a total joke including the job guys. Elias Sampson is quickly becoming that hidden highlight in the shows where he sneaks in a little something like baiting Jordan while in a Gable headlock and rocking a forearm to the face. Oh Gable... Gable is so good already. And then Dana Brooke is like nailing character stuff now which wouldn't have been conceivable a month ago. She's a great motor mouthed punk. YAP YAP YAP YAP! Main event was probably BAMFs best outing as a poor man's Heavenly Bodies where they worked to their strengths of good ring positioning and feeding the faces. They still aren't captivating working heat though. English and Gotch did their parts but the finish was telegraphed when Aiden had to bounce over towards Bliss. Bliss is a great second and jerk heel too BeTeeDubs and will do well when the top of the women's card clears out shortly.

He used it in the beginning of his WWF heel run before transitioning to the camel clutch. It was probably immortalized by the WWE Wrestlefest arcade game.

This has always struck me as nothing more than marketing language and yet another crutch for bad creative. If they weren't a wrestling company, why would they care about taking it to a wrestling show on Destination America that draws 80,000 viewers a week? The real issue here is that they fail pretty badly at presenting an entertainment show with viable characters and motivations. I don't have a connection to more than half the roster who are just floating around. They have guys who have been on TV for years and they have less meat to them than say Badger on Breaking Bad.

True answer for Black Scorpion comes from the answer to the question, "Who is today's Sting?" and that is Bayley. Blue (Pants) Scorpion is the answer. DONE.

How much do you guys think the major issue with WWE is the agent work since the Royal Rumble? The layout of multiman stuff in particular has been a major bone of contention. Who are the agents nowadays anyway? Noble and Mercury?

Isn't it supposed to be F, Marry, Kill? Murder and Kill don't have a lot difference to them to make em separate categories.

What metrics if any could someone use to effectively measure the performance of a professional wrestling match? Consider your roster of a wrestling promotion. Do you prefer your roster to be full of potential main eventers or do you prefer role players who fill out the card from top to bottom? With the gift of hindsight, was WWE ultimately wise not to put Daniel Bryan in the main event picture for WrestleMania this year? In retrospect did WCW use some of the talent that jumped to the WWF better than WWF did?