Laz

Kinda, but if WCW actually held them accountable.

...GAHHHHHHHH

I've come full circle. When I got really into wrestling in late '97, I loved the brawlers. Austin, Foley, Piper (favorite from my diaper years), even guys like DDP. Then I found ECW and it blended the crazy-ass brawls that I loved with high spots and some spurts of technical wrestling, basically becoming the live action Street Fighter II that I'd always wanted. Then I found the internet. I found puro, I found more lucha than I was exposed to on Nitro, and I joined the ROH snobs. To this day I still hold LowKi/AmDrag from Round Robin Challenge to be one of the greatest matches I've ever seen, and supersonic's write up explains my love of it better than I ever could (and with considerably less cursing). I loved seeing the matwork lead to the bombs and the highspots and the dozens of 2.9 counts, but now I realize I loved it because it was fresh and not what I was getting from WWE/TNA. Now? I find myself drifting back to the wild brawls. I've fucking loved most of Stan Hansen's work that I've dug up because he felt like the blue collar shitkicker, I love Scotland's ICW because it focuses on a more "street fight" atmosphere, and the only match at Beyond's Americanrana 2016 that truly had my full attention was the 8 (well, 7ish) man street fight. There's a sense of hyper realism to that style which is sorely lacking in most modern work. So when I do see it? I go nuts for it.

If you're talking attitude or character of a match, jobber squashes are fairly uniform. If you mean historical revisionism and how crowds at the moment view a match versus nerds like us watching after the fact? Eh, kinda, but the complexion would then be found in the core story or theme. Either that or I'm not inebriated enough to discuss this. Yet.

If it's between the two? Vince gets the edge. The whole world knows what the WWF/E is. AJPW? Not so much.

I'm literally watching Fight Club 67 right now. The opening match is a "let's make this an impromptu tag" deal and the best talent overall is Wolfgang, but I'm geared to see how it goes because I know that what happens will actually feed into the arcs of all involved. Also, Wee Man rules.

Were this a "greatest booker today" thread, Mark Dallas (ICW) were to get my vote. From glorified yardtard fed during the UK indy drought to running shows at the O2 Arena, and all with a focus on local talent. To compare him to somebody being discussed, he's the Scottish Heyman. He makes Chris Renfrew worth watching and Renfrew makes Sandman look like Mick Foley.

Vince is a promoter, though. He may dictate what happens but it was always somebody else who was booking it. That's led to a lot of great things but even more garbage. Heyman, Dusty, Gabe, and Gary Hart are my go-to's. Those are guys who really knew how to perfectly balance the entertainment/soap opera stuff with the sport aspect, and they all had a great eye for talent and how to use it. RE: Gabe's bad ROH years Even though they were lesser quality than the years prior? They still brought two future WWE headliners (Tyler Black and Kevin Steen) to the forefront.

Seconding the Disco Inferno pick. I remember legitimately laughing my ass off when he was part of the Filthy Animals, changed his name to Disqo (like Sisqo, of "Thong Song" infamy), and had the Disco Duck. I was actually hoping he'd get signed by Vince because he was such a solid midcard act.

"Natural Born Killaz" is always going to be my favorite use of real music, so much so that it's still the only rap song I know the lyrics to front and back. Some love has to be shown to David Starr for using Joan Jett's "Do You Wanna Touch Me." Has anybody notable used Accept's "Balls to the Wall"? Seems like an obvious choice. Ditto for Danzig's "Dirty Black Summer" or Motörhead's "Orgasmatron" (which would've been a perfect fit for HHH had he not gotten his own trio of Motörhead tunes).

So why are we talking about Bruiser Brody again?

It really would. I've never seen a talent go from decent to shyte like Bennett has. He was better when he was green.

Oh god, what have we done...

I was at DBD V N1. We left during intermission as my (then) girlfriend had a panic attack over a gang shooting that happened a few blocks away. In Roxbury. No shit, eh? I still never forgave her for making me miss out on the ME as that feud is what kept me a wrestling fan.

To add to that, Quentin, I'll say that the UK indies actually allow their heels to be heels. Jimmy Havoc's infamous threatening to cut a fan's throat, Paul Robinson just being allowed to be a smarmy prick...it's almost like the UK companies still understand how pro wrestling is supposed to work.

TNA was proof that we crossed into an alternate timeline sometime in the early 21st century. Its existence was consistently meta in how unabashedly foolish the business decisions made were, how unfocused the booking was from day one, and the terrible treatment of its own key talents in favor of WWE cast-off's who were barely worth Vince's money anyway. It was a slapstick wrestling-based sitcom that shot itself into a worked shoot. Instead of learning from WCW's mistakes, TNA tripled down on the bet, using a deck of Spongebob Uno at the Texas Hold 'Em table. All because one failed writer who had one lucky break decided to have a laugh. There was no reason a company with such powerful financial backing should have had its champions requiring secondary employment. There was no reason to rely on outdated story beats when fans were openly clamoring - CHANTING - for something else. TNA killed itself. It needed to die. Good fucking riddance.

I lost interest in PWG when Kyle O'Reilly became champion. He's had some fine matches but I've never thought of him as being worth a top spot in any company.

-WM20 finale -Foley's retirement (as Cactus) -Jarrett's speech on Raw is Owen -Finding out Piper died (my first favorite, glad I met him) -The video of Bryan crying before his official retirement announcement, slumped in a corner backstage and crying "I don't want to do this"

How is that a squash match? If a commentator at one point in the match says that the person who ultimately won showed 'great resiliency' there's no way it's a squash I'd say a match where one talent is in control start to finish counts as a squash.

I think Awesome/Tanaka from ONS '05 deserves a mention.

I can't get over how much Alison Brie is channeling Kristen Wiig, and not even top notch Wiig but "first 10 minutes of Bridesmaids pathetic" Wiig. Couple that with my distaste for Marc Maron and here's another show I won't watch. Which means it'll be successful.

Corny's career in the age of shoot interviews and podcasts is one part legend telling stories, one part critique of the current products, and three parts Russo hate.

A craftsman can easily be considered an artist, as one of the definitions of "craftsmanship" is "artistry."

Backyard wrestling from India makes me way happier than it should

You're right, pro wrestling isn't art. It just has all the hallmarks of performance art. No sir, nothing about Tommy Dreamer's Sissyphean messiah complex is artistic at all. Not one bit of it. EDIT: Legitimately, the argument over whether or not pro wrestling - or any other form of marginalized entertainment, visual or audible, for that matter - constitutes art is one of the biggest peeves of mine. Its basis is in two individuals working together to pantomime physical confrontation in order to evoke an emotional response from the viewer. If pro wrestling is not art? Neither is cinema.