NotJayTabb

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.

Every now and they I come across the spreadsheet I used to make my list and end up having a little re-jig, most recently last Friday (slotting Roman Reigns and Mark Andrews into the 99 and 100 spots). I don't think it's something I can ever be truly 100% happy with, but I've no regrets about doing it, was a really fun project.

Also of note. Tyler is 20, Pete is 23, and the AoP are 22 and 23. That's an awful lot of talent in some very young wrestlers

Just an all round great show. Weakest match of the night for me was the women's title match, and that was still good. For all that people don't get excited by the former TNA guys in Young and Roode, both delivered strong performances tonight. Young came across as a purely solid heel, did nothing that might cause fans to start cheering him and delivered a few big moments -the wheelbarrow cutter on the floor looked nasty. For a show that looked merely ok on paper, having the WWE MOTY in the first hour of the show, one of the best executed turns in years on the second hour and zero bad matches made this a really well balanced card

On a brighter note, as someone who first saw both Tyler and Pete wrestling in a tiny room at a Coventry WMC, watching them steal the show whilst still adding new details to their repertoires, was amazing

Yeah, the worst thing about the finish to the women's match is that it makes it inevitable that they're building to Ember winning the title, when she's easily the least interesting option

Last nights performance in the Braun match was another feather in his cap. I know "LOL keep Roman strong" is a HILARIOUS thing people like to say, but he selflessly made Braun look incredible last night. Fought realistically from beneath, sold the shit out of his injuries and managed to have a very good match whilst being comprehensively beaten. Roman's timing is excellent, making his comebacks after letting Braun hurt himself (by running full force into the ring posts). Even kicking out of Strowman's finisher came off well, as his kick out had no force behind it, instead he barely lifted a shoulder in a way that said "he's still in it, but he's basically done" and then took the clean loss. Really great performance

Yeah, I found I'd forgotten about Rosey until the fans were chanting "You deserve it" after the injury angle, which triggered my memory and felt a bit off to me. The guy has come back shortly after the death of his brother to cleanly and comprehensively put over Braun in a v good match - I'd maybe have wanted to give him a break for once. Big fan of Roman refusing to be put on a stretcher, fully aware that last time he was on one, Braun came along and threw him over. And thus it was that he was able to evade the Braun assault this time - Roman slamming the ambulance door on Braun in utter desperation to fend him off was great.

Nakamura working with Ziggler makes sense as a first match, as it's a "name" that Nakamura can plough through - picture Tom Phillips calling "he just destroyed a 2x world champion" - who doesn't have a shred of value going forward. If they do something dumb like have Nakamura go 50/50 with Ziggler, I'll despair. If they run a Smackdown tag division properly, they could have a something really special. Usos/Breezango/AA/New Day/Primo & Epico is a really solid base to run from, heck even the Ascension can have some use. They need to overhaul their presentation of AA though. Gable's goofy personality that helped get him over is nowhere to be seen, they're now just Team Angle cosplaying as the Steiners