NotJayTabb

Enzo's firing ending the "Nia loves Enzo" storyline was one of the best things to happen to Nia. Not only did it mean she instead got a proper title match story line heading into Mania, it also meant she stopped braiding her hair, which looked terrible on her. She looks much better with her hair as it is now.

How early can you go for Steamboat? The Jericho match and his brief comeback in 2009 was a lot of fun. According to Wiki, he even had a match this year for AIW, though I've no idea if it was any good. But you could certainly get nearly 30 years up to the Jericho match

It feels like someone in the company is solidly behind Ruby, especially when you consider how quickly she rose in the company. Signed in Jan last year, debuted on NXT pretty quickly, got on a few Takeovers (including a title match), then got to the main roster with a stable named after her, all in one calendar year. Since then she's had a PPV title match and has beaten two of the four Horsewomen in back-to-back matches. She's a great wrestler, has a look that makes her standout, is a decent promo, you have to think she's got a bright future ahead.

I think for a lot of wrestlers who were considered attractive, you have to remember that some people look far better in person than they ever do in photos or on video. Santana Garrett is someone who always looks decent in photos, but in the flesh, stood a few feet away from me, she was ridiculously attractive, absolutely stunning. I imagine seeing the von Erich's, for example, on a regular basis within touching distance, might make them seem more attractive than they looked on tape.

I thought this was pretty fun, it is admittedly strange to see someone as small as Alexa dominating someone the size of Nia, but they worked it well - Alexa taking out Nia's knee early, escaping moves with rakes to the eyes and causing Nia to take some big bumps along the way. Nia's offence looks really good, and her size advantage means she knows she just needs that one killshot to put Alexa away, but that causes some misses like the flipping senton or the attempted second rope Samoan drops. Alexa makes this great smug face before DDTing Nia onto the ring steps in a great spot, and I liked the story that she suddenly realised she couldn't get Nia into the ring. The clean win hopefully means Alexa is out of the title picture for a while, would like to see Nia feuding with the Riott Squad next.

Isn't Gail married to some TV chef anyway, so I'm sure she's not living on the bread line. I'm sure she's pretty happy to have retired healthy on her own terms, and is still able to contribute to the business. Agree about the Kim/Kong matches. They totally hold up, they managed to make Kong stay looking like a monster, whilst Kim still got to look convincing as a babyface ace whose offence was hurting Kong.

I think the women's division will be ok. You've got a strong heel on top in Baszler, who's been having good to great matches since she debuted, and a fun pack of babyfaces to challenge. Nikki Cross, Kairi, Dakota Kai, Nixon Newall hopefully debuting soon. Even Candace, who I think is a pretty blah wrestler, is massively over. Below that, Bianca Belair looks like a real prospect, and people like Vanessa Borne and Lacey Evans will get the chance to sink or swim.

Apparently it's just been announced that Danny Burch has signed a full time NXT contract, so they might actually be pushing the Lorcan team more now. Good for him, didn't let his release dishearten him too much, got into the best shape of his career, boosted his reputation on the indies and made sure the WWE kept him in mind

Just watched the 01/08/94 Raw which had a patchy 20+ minutes Michaels/Ramon match and a really neat Bull Nakano/Alundra Blayze sprint. Really wish the 1994 women's division was a bit bigger - according to Cagematch, the only women Nakano fought in nearly two years under contract were Blayze and Heidi Lee Morgan (often tagging with Blayze)

The Burch/Lorcan team is odd, because they got paired up after having two violent fun matches against each other, but seem to lose every match they have as a team. Burch seems to have that Hardcore Holly thing of being referred to as one of the toughest men in the company whilst losing every match.

He's a month and a half away from breaking CM Punk's mammoth reign. I can see Vince pettily letting Brock beat that before he drops the title It was such a mammoth reign that most people likely forgot it existed, or certainly how long it was. Most people doesn't include Vince. Especially as the court case with Punk & Cabana against Chris Amman will be taking place very soon.

He's a month and a half away from breaking CM Punk's mammoth reign. I can see Vince pettily letting Brock beat that before he drops the title

I mean, there's so many things wrong with this view that the fact Bobby Roode is older than AJ still isn't Cornette's biggest error here

What I like about Thunder is what I like about a lot of WCW - never knowing who's coming through the curtain next. Even in the first episode, I wasn't expecting Tenzan to pop up in the 3rd bout. I like that sense of mystery and the random matches that can occur - like I dont think Disco Inferno vs the Disciple will be a good match, but I'm certainly curious to watch it.

I think a lot of people went off Cody in the early stages of his indy run, where he seemed to rarely lose whilst having pretty humdrum matches. When every time you see a guy and you know he's going to deliver a **1/2 match that he invariably wins, it makes him less appealing to watch.

My first favourite wrestler as a kid, still in my top 3 to this day. Really sad news, seems like he's been dead for a week before this news broke. Great tag team worker, not just with Martel, but also paired up nicely with Pillman, Kroffat, Johnny Gunn, plus a he had a choice match in AJPW teaming with Jim Brunzell against the Fantastics. I'll be sporting my Zenk shirt with pride this week

I suppose for me I'd have to say Tom Zenk, although I actually think he was a great wrestler. I've even got a nice sky blue Zenk shirt I bought off eBay that I unironically love.

I watched the show on their Youtube page and it seemed like a decent nights action. Like you I enjoyed the the Ishii/Rampage Brown match. Rampage Brown is a real favourite of mine. Oddly, and I guess they may out them up separately but the Swords of Essex/War Machine match and the Riddle match weren't included on the full show they put up. In particular I was looking forward to the tag match and seeing the Swords hopefully being thrown around by War Machine. WCPW are obviously not for everyone, but I think the World Cup they've been running has been pretty entertaining and the round of 16 onwards looks to have a lot of compelling matches. They announced they were filming a new series of their web-show and they changed the rope colours for the NJPW matches, so I think the tag match and the Riddle match are being broadcast on a later date.

Going to a House of Pain show in Nottingham tomorrow. It's a decent looking card, the match between LJ Heron and Garrett Bond (son of WoS star Dave Bond) should be great. Went to the WCPW show in Manchester last week, which was a Japan qualifying show for their World Cup of Wrestling. Not a huge WCPW fan, and I'm neutral to modern NJPW, but it seemed like probably my last chance to see Liger in person, so it felt worth it. Decent show all in all. The main event of Ishii/Rampage Brown was excellent, War Machine vs Swords of Essex was decent and I enjoyed all the NJPW matches. Only negative was the insanity of bringing in Matt Riddle as an unannounced special guest, and then having him lose to Alex Gracie of all people. Match was pretty poor too

All the great ideas I've had over the years, and THIS is the one they end up using :-) Not "Fire Dolph Ziggler" or "The Tom Zenk Collection on the Network", but this one.

One thing they've done well recently is start reviving the tag division that had died a death at the start of the year. Basing the division around the three most charismatic teams, with the Colons included as workhorses, is starting to show results. The Usos especially have been on fire since they won the titles, totally natural and comfortable on the mic, and their match with the New Day could well steal the PPV. The question really is why put him in MITB in the first place? No-one thinks he'll win and he's utterly dreadful.

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Really big fan of #CCK, Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos. Such an incredibly fun team, especially live. They've got great chemistry, both in ring and personality wise. Last fun match you saw: The main event of NYWC's Psycho Circus show from earlier this year. It's like a strange mix of Survivor Series, Wargames and Cage of Death. Easily the best Bull James performance I've ever seen, he works the whole 40 minutes of the match and takes some nasty bumps, including a hiptoss into a mousetrap covered board Wrestler you want to see more of: Kip Sabian has been making a few waves in the UK recently, only seen a bit of him so looking forward to checking out more Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): House of Pain Wrestling in Cotgrave on 27/5 Match you're most looking forward to watching: Not so much a match, but I'm going to the WCPW World Cup Japanese qualifiers in Manchester next month, where Jushin Liger is one of the participants. WCPW is pretty blah as a promotion, but seeing Liger live should be great Last fun interview/promo you saw: Any one of the Fashion Files segments on Smackdown. Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: Probably something on Segunda Caida, I visit there every day Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: The Between The Sheets episode based on 2003, that was really fun Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: I've just downloaded Attack Pro's Press Start 5. I've only watched bits so far, due to an exam I've got tomorrow, but the bits I've seen so far look tremendous. Favorite thing about the wrestling landscape in the past three months (if you live in the past, then go with your past three months of time-traveling):I genuinely remain amazed at just how much stuff is out there and how difficult it is to keep up with things. I also genuinely enjoy the challenge.

Been two years since this thread was last posted in, and a whole lot has changed. Primarily in relation to the Miz, who really was one of the highlights of the WWE in the past 12 months. Miz pretty much single-handedly made the IC title scene interesting in the past year, despite being paired with deadmeat Dolph Ziggler and unmotivated Dean Ambrose. Charlotte too has excelled in the past two years. At the time, I voted Miz, because Charlotte still didn't convince me that she was a great wrestler, but her catalogue of matches in the past two years is actually pretty good. Still, however, I'd again vote Miz, but on his own strengths this time rather than my lack of faith in Charlotte. Wondering if everyone felt the same as they did two years ago, or if Miz's last year has won people over?

Man, Jarrett carried Michaels and Angle to arguably their best ever singles matches. Edge hasn't got anything that comes close to either of those.

Really good stuff here right from the get-go, as Shirai fires off a blow right from the handshake, only to get caught in a big sleeper right away, showing how dangerous Baszler can be. Baszler works Shirai’s arm early door, and I love how they kept coming back to the injury throughout the match. Shirai sells it throughout, just little touches like not being able to properly grind her elbow into Baszler’s ribs on an abdominal stretch or giving it a quick shake in between moves so you know it’s still bothering her. Baszler locks another sleeper in on Shirai, this time in the corner from the top rope, and Io does this amazing limp body hanging sell. They fight outside, which is where Shirai takes over, dropkicking Baszler’s head through a chair, blasting her with a thrown chair and hurling her into the crowd, where Baszler only just makes the 20 count back into the ring. Shirai challenges Baszler to strike her, fighting through Shayna’s kicks to the leg, but not being prepared for Baszler to mix it up and kick the injured arm instead, which puts Io down. Baszler gets this amazing Falcon Arrow into a sleeper, and this leads to probably the only weak point of the match – the ref checks on Shirai, who is out, and rather than award the match to Baszler, he makes her break the hold and pin Io, only getting a two count. Very odd. Baszler lets herself get distracted talking to the ref, and this is her downfall, as Shirai hits a straitjacket German suplex, a tombstone and a moonsault to pick up the win. Great stuff.