Laz

Fit Finlay hyped Sami up after their matches in Evolve and, to my knowledge, he's never injured anybody after years of working deathmatches. Stupid spot on every level, but there's no way his TMZ interview isn't in character.

BAM! Got Scorpio/Hardcastle in the can. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41212-2-cold-scorpio-vs-sexton-hardcastle-pcw-51698/ A fine match, nothing special, but fun to see where Edge improved and where he definitely did not.

This match was given to me by SPS for the review trade. It's always interesting to see the early work of what one may call a legend. Despite the general opinion here being not particularly high, I've always been an Edge fan (he being the former Sexton Hardcastle). Though the term may arguably be applied quite liberally, Edge was one of THE top guys of his era and has an impressive resumé as both a tag and singles talent in WWE. To me, he's the Brendan Fraser of pro wrestling: a generically charming talent with enough charisma and ability to carry himself even if he's not a true superstar lead. Vanilla, but not offensively bland. This match, fine as it may be, suffers from a few elements. One being that it happened during a low point in Scorpio's career, where he saw the writing on the wall and phoned it in more often than not. Another being that most mid/late 90s indie work I've seen follows the WWF 1995 midcard formula (arm wringer, clothesline, chinlock, go home), which has to be the most intensely boring type of match I've seen. Finally, Hardcastle's selling is always momentary, a trait that the future WWE HOFer would never really shake. None of this is to say that the match is awful, though. Hardcastle has always had an appeal to him on sight alone, carrying himself with a very real star presence, and his ridiculous white boy dancing to mock Scorpio only gets better throughout the match. There's also a gorgeous Electric Chair Drop that Scorpio sells like death, only recovering because Hardcastle takes so long dancing. The finishing stretch is fun, too, as Scorpio's moonsault is interrupted by Flash Flanagan (a stable member of Hardcastle), and then the rest of Revolution X tries to interfere (including Reckless Youth and Christian Cage), but they're run off by Brian Lee and a few other faces allowing Scorpio to finish Hardcastle off. As an aside, Brian Lee reminds me of the trailer trash character Michael McDonald would play on MadTV. He looks like he'd kill you in a heartbeat, he talks like he wants to, but then he throws little sissy punches and the gag is revealed. Overall, a nice lower card match, and quite a palate cleanser after Tanaka/Murahama. 5/10, **1/2

My review of Tanaka/Murahama that SPS gave me last week... http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/25785-minoru-tanaka-vs-takehiro-murahama-njpw-strong-energy-042001/?p=5833894&do=findComment&comment=5833894 Great match. Reminded me of early ROH in the best of ways. For this week, sir, I'll give you an actual match, and one that happens to be a bit of a personal favorite. Shingo Takagi vs. YAMATO, Dragon Gate Kobe World Festival, 7/24/16 https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x4lskd5

Early 2000s puro is a major blind spot for me. I binged through the major Four Pillars matches early on in my internet days and was still firmly stuck in my ECW-inspired "good wrestling needs plunder" phase. I was 14. Leave me be. I'm sorry that I didn't watch more earlier on, because the opening moments alone hooked me. Murahama and Tanaka trading kicks, keeping their distance from one another and feeling each other out. That's enough to get my attention when the workers doing it clearly know what to do, and both men obviously do. Even little things like Murahama snapping off a one hand bulldog, a Jericho staple that I always thought looked poor, is done with an extra oomph to make it look more believable. Part of it is definitely how Murahama carries himself, a smaller dog with a great fight in him, and another part is how little down time there is. I mentioned once before that my favorite style of wrestling will always be garbage brawls, and while that's still true I also need to say that this kind of wrestling is my favorite non-gimmicked style. The strikes were swift and snug but not recklessly stiff, the submission holds were treated with respect and admiration (leading to several convincing false finishes), and the blending of a realistic fight feel with the storytelling pageantry of pro wrestling makes this a wonderful watch. I love that spots which were even common when the match occurred seemed like bigger deals than most insane spots do now. The Saito suplex from Tanaka leading to Murahama bailing out, Tanaka finally nailing the missile dropkick, the finishing roundhouse kick...all beautiful. 8/10, ****

Because it matters more than it doesn't, at least as much as the Rock n' Roll HOF anyway.

For SPS, things are getting odd. The Space Bugs vs. Sea Amigos, Kaiju Big Battel (date unknown, some time in 2011) https://youtu.be/YKSt4Kos-kY

"El Ciclope" unmasking, Cruiserweight Battle Royal, WCW Slamboree 1998.

Mike Graham was a shithead. Period. He liked to brag about how he could've beat the Radicals in a real fight but Saturn being an Airborne Ranger and the two slugs he took to the neck years later kinda disproves that notion. Good on JJ. Like others, I hope he's sorted his personal life out.

Which is why wrestling Twitter sucks. These are the same idiots that called on Sasha's botch a few weeks back while ignoring that Asuka threw a kick.

Throw me in. I'll review the match Tim Cooke gave me one day, maybe when he shows back up.

For reference, same clip? http://mobile.twitter.com/TJMarconi/status/965048108081123328/video/1 Moves on display: slap, spinebuster, slap, Dominator. The camera angle on the Dominator is tight, but the guy taking it does a full rotation and lands on his knees. His head comes close to hitting the mat but doesn't, as the move is supposed to look. Almost like it's a WORK and Ethan Page is either angling for a match or is just lousy at his job.

After viewing the TJ Marconi thing...wait, y'all know this is a work, right? When you have some schmuck yelling about "entertaining people" after a pseudo-Russo worked shoot that turns right back into a predictable work... Wrestling Twitter needs to die. Marconi is a rare breed on the indies because he throws believable offense and knows you're going to get hurt sometimes.

A little, but almost exclusively to Bryan. Bringing elements of MMA helped get them noticed and was aided greatly by guys like LowKi and Samoa Joe. Bryan just happened to perfect the blend and, in truth, I wish that WWE brought the ref stoppage angle in. It made for some incredible finishes and teases.

I'd imagine "Cult of Personality" would be a little cheaper given Living Colour's level of fame being less than Joan Jett's.

Tossing my hat in with not being able to watch ECW on the Network. The music was such a vital part of the company's presentation, from the dozen or so White/Rob Zombie tunes to "Natural Born Killaz" to "Walk," that dubbing it over ruins the mood. I literally subbed when it came out just to re-live my favorite ECW shows and declined to re-up over it. ROH editing it out won't bother me, as the only theme used there I think was important at all was Bryan using "Final Countdown," if only for Final Battle '08. Maybe Joe using LL Cool J, but the important part of his theme everywhere major has been the Godzilla intro. Overall, quality of footage only matters to me if the edit takes away from the mood. I have no problem if watching a WCW card from 1992 edits out "Mr. Bang Bang," or whatever, but Sandman needs Metallica.

It's probably a machine gun.

From what I remember (courtesy of his appearances on MLW podcasts), he started eating healthier around the time he started smoking weed, which is within 10 years.

Caught up on AstroBoy's match, Ugly Ducklings vs. OI4K, and here is the review. It's a fine match but nothing special. http://prowrestlingonly.com/index.php?/topic/41033-ugly-ducklings-vs-oi4k-pwx-seasons-deletings-121816/

We start with OI4K's entrance and it's nothing special, leading us to the Ugly Ducklings making their way out. Coach Mikey (team manager) is dressed like an elf since 'tis the season, and riles up the crowd to quack for Colby Corino...who couldn't make it but quickly shows up anyway. No drama, just a brief "he couldn't make it but it's time for miracles." What do ya know, out comes Colby. Possibly stoned. The Crists dive out and it's Sami Callihan/Rob Killjoy for a moment but a Death Valley Bomb makes it just Sami. Lance Lude in to take Sami out with tilt-a-whirl heasscissors. Dave Crist with a crossbody to Lude and then Colby takes him out with a springboard gamengiri. Jake with a neckbreaker to Corino and then it's dive time. Colby teases a pair of dives to Dave and then finally does it on the third, taking me out of the match since it defies logic. Hey, Dave, you had two chances to move out of the way and didn't. You're an idiot. The match quickly breaks down into MOVEZ and spots, one highlight being Sami booting Lude mid-moonsault. A brief skirmish between Coach Mikey and PWX official Anderson devolves into a catfight of sorts, leading to a six-man staredown. Elbow trades and the Ducks take over until Sami and Killjoy trade chops. A quick rant about how most matches work now: Sami throws wonderful looking strikes, often throwing his entire body into them, and nobody's ever booked it so his shots mean more than anybody else's. I have a problem with FIGHTING SPIRIT~ trades that aren't properly built to or just downright lack logic and this is one of those examples. Sami and Killjoy may be around the same height but Sami has more mass and throws better looking strikes than I'd say the majority of indie talent, so why the hell can't a no-name like Rob Killjoy eat them with pride? He'd look that much better fighting from underneath. Killjoy kisses Sami and Jake before eating a triple team stomp/Tombstone and then Dave hits useless Colby with a springboard cutter. Killjoy and Lude catch Dave with a Doomsday knee for the finish and all men shake hands after. PRO: -Always great to have a hot crowd, and the PWX crowd was hot -Ugly Ducklings have their own -Sami Callihan rarely disappoints CON: -There was virtually no flow, just spots one after another -Colby lacks the ring presence of his father or the athleticism of anybody else in the match -There was probably a total of 10 minutes of action but it felt much longer due to the pacing **1/2, 5/10

Yep.

I'll be taking the week off.

Looking forward to it, Tim. For you, sir... Joe Coffey vs. Kurt Angle, ICW Fear & Loathing IX (11/20/16) https://youtu.be/82JPxHGN1rk

I still owe Astro a review. Been busy dealing with a wedding in the family and the aftermath but I'll get it done.

Im not totally positive about what the current structure is. I think the Bucks are office there somehow now, too.That wouldn't surprise me. I want to say Joey Ryan sold his share when he was first signed to TNA, but he may have just been giving up office duties.