Laz

Not surprising given how bad of shape he's been in for the last few years, but it still sucks. He was one of my favorite ECW guys past the usual names, and that (gimmicked) chairshot on Steve Corino at Hardcore Heaven '99 is still incredibly brutal. RIP to the other Hardcore Chair Swingin' Freak.

Chikara, maybe?

Because "American Wolves" is lazy as shit. It reminds me of a superhero I came up with when I was 9, American Werewolf, but without the inherent schlock factor. Seconding Best Friends and Motor City Machine Guns (though I preferred the original MURDER City name). Super unofficial name, but Excalibur once called the team of Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards Team Chop-Chop. Infinitely better than "Dojo Bros."

I quit watching full-time after Benoit, coming back for spurts and trying to find something worth watching. If you told me in 2008 that Brock Lesnar, AJ Styles, Kevin Steen, El Generico, and Consequences Creed would have WrestleMania matches I would've laughed. Now I see it , I watched it, and it only cemented how far removed my interests are from what Vince is willing to present. WWE is that old fling who you still have feelings for. You run into them and hit it off, start seeing each other again, but every reason it didn't work back then is amplified now. It's not that they're a bad person now or that you are, either, but you're just wildly different people after having your respective experiences. That kid inside you will always pine over them, but the adult you have become knows it won't work.

Disappointed that I tapped out so early. I can only imagine how much happier I am about the state of pro wrestling without having watched anything after the Women's title match.

Winged, I've been stoned all day. This show still sucked.

Compiling my thoughts posted elsewhere in one, condensed post. Solid tag match. Scott Dawson is ready right now, work-wise, to go main roster and be a solid midcard mechanic. If he can talk then he has Double A-tier star potential. Gable and Jordan are very, very green, and I definitely get the feeling that Dawson was the general for everybody. Probably giving it ***. Corbin/Aries was alright. I understand why they did that finish but I feel like it should've gone the other way. **1/2 Zayn/Nakamura thoughts, upon first viewing and rewatch... FIRST WATCH: The forearm trade spot should've been after Nakamura was built as a hugely dangerous striker for at least a couple months. That way it means something for Zayn to be able to stand tall and take them instead of "oh cool spot." Good match hampered by occasions of awful camera work. This felt like a big match that we built to for a month or two (but without any proper build so the heat was all "this is a good exhibition match" which is a very stale kind of heat these days). **** REWATCH: Rewatching it now. Feel comfortable with my ratings for Revival/Alpha and Aries/Corbin, but I'm going with a downgrade to Nak/Zayn to ***3/4, mostly for the crowd and a few choice moments. I like the story being told of Sami, on the eve of the biggest moment in his entire career, has to be the scapegoat to Nakamura. He has this look on his face right away that he knows he's getting his ass kicked tonight and he seems to actually pick up the pace and start believing that he can win not long before he hits Blue Thunder. Nakamura is Nakamura, he's just physical charisma personified. My issues are all from the bumping and selling, which was all fine by strong style standards but subpar for Zayn, where so much of his allure to this point has been with how much sympathy he can generate over the simplest of bumps and now he feels like he's trying to be a tough strong style wrestler (which he isn't). I'll probably get crucified for this, but Nakamura's kicks are loose and sloppy. He's probably holding back because he could legitimately kick somebody's head in but when commentary hypes his expertise with his kicks I expect more LowKi or Ultimo Dragon and less CM Punk. For comparison, Asuka is doing something close in spirit to Nakamura character-wise (eccentric but dangerous) but is very much so more believable since every strike of here looks focused and bludgeoning. Starting Asuka/Bayley now. Stephanie being boo'd from the crowd warms my heart. Bayley is exposed here as not being on Asuka's level. She was great with the other NXT-trained women, but working with somebody who came from the joshi system is just showing the faults of WWE-approved training. It's all about working with broad strokes and not bothering to spend enough time on the details. Her strikes look weak and she's clearly remembering the routine instead of selling this as a legitimate fight. Yeah. I've gotten grumpy. The finish shouldn't have taken so long. I love love LOVE that Asuka went after Bayley's right arm and focused on that with the Chickenwing, but even with Bayley being so over and such a great face the choke out should've happened either earlier or after more of a struggle. As it is, she basically was lying down with one arm moving and Asuka cuddling her. *** Does Joe's theme sound like what would happen if Cypress Hill and RZA worked together to anybody else? It feels like it could use B Real to me. Balor's music is fantastic and the entrance is usually the best one around today. This one not so much. That head dress is fucking ridiculous and nobody should ever sell fear when he wears it. He looks like a rejected ICP character with it on and a thousand times more dangerous when he takes it off. I feel like it would look even better if his head was shaved instead of the high and tight. Commentary covers for Joe's no-sell of Balor's goofy hat by saying most would be afraid of this chainsaw wielding demon but not Joe. God, Corey Graves is good at his fucking job. Fantastic opening as Joe gets caught off guard and rushes Balor on the defense, then keeps tossing him out of the ring, proving this ring is HIS. Balor finally repays him and follows Joe out, showing he's willing to go beyond Joe, and Joe tosses him into the crowd, widening his borders. Balor realizes what's happening and fights back, bringing it back into the ring and getting the lead until Joe shoves the ref away and clobbers Balor. Joe tosses him back out and follows with an elbow suicida to let him know that play time is fucking over and Joe's going to do what he does best: KILL. The blood stoppage is fantastic. Joe knows he can destroy Balor right now but Finn is getting time to recover and Joe is getting pissed. He finally gets back in the ring and catches Balor with the STJoe and his adrenaline is down so he needs to slow down the pace. He gets a nearfall and blood stoppage again. If this were a real fight, I would think this was complete bullshit. The challenger is clearly destroying the champion and you're only checking his wound when he has Balor down and out? Somebody in the league doesn't war him to win. Joe's frustrated but tiring and that allows Finn to take it further. Odd how there's no blood stoppage when Balor is on offense, no? Crazy how that works. Balor on offense is fine but nothing extraordinary, so I'm thinking of him more as a strong style Sting. He's Sting's gritty reboot, faster paced and only donning the paint for major moments so we can see the actor's face but still pleasing the fanboys when it matters. If Balor is the NXT Sting, that makes Joe the NXT Vader. I am so in love with this idea that I'm already calling this the Match of the Night. Muscle Buster gets 2.9 and Joe, bleeding again, is going nuts. Strike exchange and they're double KO for a bit, then Balor goes Demon and fires away on Joe. Finish keeps both guys strong and puts over a reason for another match, with Joe having very legitimate gripes with the blood stoppage only happening when he was close to finishing it early on, and Balor was lucky to be near the corner. Balor, though, can dispute it as Joe got too cocky each time he was ahead and allowed Balor to recuperate, and Joe was shit-talking Balor as he had him in the choke which made Finn dig that much deeper. Wonderful finish. Great story. Definitely the match of the night. ****1/2

they would be shocked and that would keep them on their toes for future matches. ideally, if they truly hated the heel, it would lead to greater hatred & more heat. The problem there is that a comeback implies a sense of being the underdog, which is not a position a heel (villain) should really be in. A heel still has the opportunity for a comeback even within the formula, but it's called a cut-off. I don't remember reading that but it sorta makes sense. The easier option would be to start laying out matches with less finished reversals and spice things up leading to the bigger face-off's. Maybe try protecting finishes again, so when it is rarely kicked out of it feels huge. The trend of finisher kick-out overdrive really started with Austin/Rock/Angle. Like the King's Road classics where increasingly dangerous moves were brought out to counter opponents that learned how to brace for the expected, they'd trade finishers and kick out as the stakes raised, showing us that this title match is incredibly important. That this then led to every title match having it, to every "bigger" match having it, and then to most matches having it is a shame and a sign of the style's evolution (not always for the best), but it's also one that can be reversed easier than others.

I view him as more of a bomb-thrower than a spotfest guy. At his best, his bombs have always focused on weakening the back/neck and knocking the wind out of his opponent so he has time to gloat. It works in the sense of how unhinged he's usually been portrayed, where he was a joker and a wise-ass but he was very, very dangerous when pushed.

Formulaic matches are fine when they're spiced properly (ie. not generic WWF/WWE midcard stuff, with 5-minute chinlock controls), but I'm similar to funkdoc in preferring variety.

I think the only feud that matches up on any level with that incredible run from Joe's title reign to the ROH/CZW blowoff is Steen/Generico from 2010. They just laid into each other and proved their value to the company and to the business, making Corny's run alongside Delirious and his decision to do away with Generico all the more insane.

The only issue I've had with the pivotshare stuff is that it won't work on my PS4. I don't use a Roku, though, so that could be why I haven't experienced any significant freezing issues.

New Day worked best when they were at the point of subtle parody, mocking the idea of the "happy smiling black guys" openly and trolling the hell out of the crowds. That was when they got over: when people got "in" on the joke. Since then, as Boricua pointed out, they've been homogenized in the typical WWE sense. Why, in an era where subtle character development is all the rage with the hottest television programs, this is the case can be laid at one person's feet. Owens, as Loss stated, is a legitimate heel in an era where those are few and far between. He has his fans, but they're his fans because he's so damn good at being a dickhead that it's a reaction do quality. His look has never been his selling point, or even his work (which I'm much higher on than most here), but it's the passion that he exudes with every punch and every ounce of shit-talk. Knowing that he worked so hard to get to this point, overcoming several bookers who didn't want him to be the success that he is (IWS and PWG were the only companies to give him the full ball without argument), his look has actually aided him to this point. He looks like a jobber but then brutalizes people, negating his lack of a superstar appearance. His working style, though, has been sanitized and gentrified by WWE. As I've said on other boards, only WWE can take one of my favorite talents and make them boring.

Insane Championship Wrestling has a service on pivotshare (icwondemand.pivotshare.com). $6.99/month. I subscribe to them and Progress.

Rob Black. There is at least a positive outcome to the majority of those listed here, as Nash jumping to WCW with Hall gave wrestling a needed boost and we can at least say HHH spearheading NXT is an overall positive (even Jeff Jarrett has some good to his existence since TNA gave us exposure to a few of the bigger names in the past decade), but I cannot think of a lasting positive to come out of XPW and Extreme Associates in general.

How has there not been a "comedy of errors" style play/movie about a haphazard wrestling promotion? You don't even need to dream up fantasy scenarios , just take bits from the various WWE/WCW/TNA backstage stories.

My favorite feuds happened in or after 1996. My favorite matches have been in the last 16 years. Easy pick for me: post.

You made a blanket statement that is objectively false. We called you on it. Nothing more. If you liked that ECW match then you're in for a treat since I'd rank that among his worst.

He also called you ignorant, which you are if you've admittedly only seen one of his matches. Some of his best and/or more important ones are on YouTube. His only comparison to Sabu is the choice of pants and abundance of deathmatches.

He got me interested in puro. I still love the matches with Gannosuke, Tanaka, and Awesome. RIP falconer

I think one of the more damning things about his ego is that others who have achieved as much, if not more, come across as humble. The Attitude big three of Austin, Rock, and Foley immediately come to mind.

In an interesting way, Jericho's perfectly playing the role of his hair band icons: first he was an underutilized talent, then he had his moment in the sun, then he saw his game and relevance dwindle after a tone shift, and now he's back to play his greatest hits and earn some scorn. Wow. He's working all of us.

He got older and found some minor success with his band. Music feeds the ego like few other passions. Either that or he's playing up the gimmick, which is not unusual for him.

One of Bryan's huge appeals is that you can tell, with every movement and every match, that this was what he always wanted to do. That sort of passion shines through in everything he's done.

No arguments about ROH commentary. They've never had a great team, barely even having a good one (I think Corino and Nigel have been fine as the veteran color guys when they've been on), and it's the largest strike against them outside of the lame (even by indy standards) production. If you're still taking Bryan recs, the Morishima feud is the side of Bryan that we ended up getting in WWE heading into WM30. (Ignore that if you've already reviewed them and I'm missing it.)