InYourCase

vs. Tomoaki Honma - 8/3/14 vs. Kota Ibushi - 7/29/15 vs. Tomohiro Ishii - 1/4/16

Maybe not my favorite, but the two Kobashi matches (vs. Akiyama, vs. Sasaki) should be in the running. I don't think I like either of those more than the last two Okada vs. Tanahashi matches, Nakamura vs. Ibushi, or Okada vs. Omega, but they should be in the discussion.

Heat evolves, just like everything else in wrestling. People have phones and tablets now - even in the biggest of big spots, some of them are going to be filming it, rather than living in it. I also just believe that people react differently. People evolve.

I don't even think it was close. Goto vs. Shibata was a great match and it had plenty of heat, but it's not even comparable to the reaction of the main event. What match were people watching? The last 20 minutes were deafening. Audience members were crying after the finish. They clung onto every nearfall. Get lost with that "it wasn't anything special" bullshit. And thank you for saying that, Parv. Maybe not people will get a grip and realize that New Japan doesn't have "one style", and saying that they don't like "the New Japan style" is a ludicrous and uninformed argument because there is no specific style. The second half of modern New Japan cards are littered with different styles.

Try to get into Joshi, continue to watch pimped lucha, try to get a Dragon System viewing project off the ground

I can't take any argument against the main event when the person says, "the heat wasn't anything special" Tiger the Dark vs. ACH - *** Young Bucks vs. RPG Vice - ***1/2 NEVER Six-Man - ***3/4 O'Reilly vs. Cole - ***1/2 GOD vs. CHAOS vs. GBH - ***1/4 KUSHIDA vs. Takahashi - ****1/2 Shibata vs. Goto - ****1/2 Tanahashi vs. Naito - ****3/4 Okada vs. Omega - *****

Aren't you the person who just marked out over a Dragon Gate match? This coming from someone that has obviously never watched Dragon Gate.

Do you think there's an argument that Sting's influence case has grown? I'm not saying I agree with it, and if I had a vote I wouldn't vote for Sting, but there's a certain aura around him that has grown in recent years. He's looked at as a legend by a large subject of mainstream wrestling fandom. There's a certain influence that he has. I don't think it sniffs Bryan's influence, or Punk's for that matter, but there's something there. What has he influenced? Modern babyface and match structure. Again, I don't see that too much, I am just looking at things from another perspective.

Do you think there's an argument that Sting's influence case has grown? I'm not saying I agree with it, and if I had a vote I wouldn't vote for Sting, but there's a certain aura around him that has grown in recent years. He's looked at as a legend by a large subject of mainstream wrestling fandom. There's a certain influence that he has. I don't think it sniffs Bryan's influence, or Punk's for that matter, but there's something there.

CIMA bounced up to 40%. Hopefully more people consider to give him a look, seeing as how now that Bryan is in, he's the most deserving person on the ballot.

Explain the logic behind sexual assault being "PC shit". And Joey Styles isn't a fucking comedian. There's no charm when he says it. He's a gross, old man. Him thinking that it was a joke doesn't make what he said any better. In Dave Chappelle's monologue this past Saturday, he said it in a way that brought healing. Styles' brought a harsh reminder that we live in a country that accepts sexual assault. Your logic about Gabe running an angle like that is beyond my comprehension. I can't imagine spewing that line out there and thinking it's logical. More power to you, I guess.

The live crowd groaned, but seeing the unedited clip and the way Styles went completely out of his way to make an unfunny sexual assault joke made it more disgusting than I would've ever imagined. It doesn't matter why anyone was offended. It was vile, and that's why he was fired. That and that he's a shit announcer.

I *think* you'll be all over his GHC run. It's heavy offense that you like, I'm just afraid you might think it's excess. If you get through it and you dig it, I think you'll have him lumped with Flair. The run is that good.

It's hands down the best title reign ever. I'm sure there's a Flair reign that compares to it, and I look at Mochizuki's 2011 run in a similar light, but nothing touches Kobashi from 2003-2005. Misawa, Honda, Bison, Owaga, Nagata, Rikio,, Akiyama, Takayama, Taue, ~MIKE AWESOME~, and MiSu, among others. There's nothing like it. I have the Misawa win, and both the Akiyama and Takayama matches at five stars. Then if you go a little past his loss to Rikio, he has an insane stretch with Sasaki and Tenryu. I'm repeating information everyone already knows, but i highly doubt there's a better three year stretch than Kobashi from 2003-2005.

Kobashi vs. Takayama is the Kobashi match Parv should be watching. And I second Dick Togo vs. Honda. That should be watched by every graps fan, ever.

I don't think EVOLVE has that different of a style compared to the norm? It's not World of Sport, Dragon Gate, or something completely revolutionary. It has its quirks, and I get what you're saying, I just don't think EVOLVE fits with the point you're making.

People that accuse Dave of having a bias towards Japanese wrestling often say "That would've been ****1/2 at the Tokyo Dome." He realizes the Dome is not the epicenter of puro graps.

Only tag match that comes close to the EVOLVE match from this year is Sekimoto & Hino vs. Okabayashi & Shiozaki from Fortune Dream 3. I gave both ****3/4. I don't look at them as all-timers, but both have a shot to finish in my Top 10.

I certainly don't disagree, but it's not a shot at US wrestling, it's more how it's presented.

If you watch more EVOLVE, I think you're going to fall in love with Yehi.

I'm not sure what being PC has to do with any of that, but sure.

I want to throw out 2005. -Joe vs. Necro -Peak NOAH 7/18/05 The start of KENTA's peak Tenryu comes in and fucks shit up Kobashi & Shiozaki vs. Sasaki & Nakajima -Arguably ROH's best year Punk vs. Aries (and the entire Summer of Punk) James Gibson vs. everyone Joe vs. Kobashi, Joe/Ki vs. Kobashi/Homicide Steel Cage Warfare KENTA vs. Low Ki, Danielson vs. Marufuji -TNA's year best, hands down X Division madness with Joe/Styles/Daniels Styles vs. Abyss in a cage -One of Dragon Gate's best years ever 7/3/05 six-man is PEAK Dragon Gate Milano vs. SaiRyo M2K reunion angle vs. Blood Generation 3/6/05 two out of three falls tag Nakajima, Mochizuki, and K-Ness all killing it Chikara and All Japan both had really strong years. WWE was fine. New Japan was the only promotion that really lacked something big.

Don Fujii is actually based off of Don Arakawa of New Japan fame. When he made the transition from Sumo Fujii to Don Fujii, there was a lot of confusion because people thought it was a weird English translation, like his name should have been Boss Fujii or something. Nope, just based on the lovely, handsome Don Arakawa. So there's a fun fact for your day.

I once heard Bryan Alvarez describe Dragon Gate selling as a video game health meter. The bar starts in the green, and with each move, it slowly dies down until you hit critical condition and then eventually die (or get pinned). He meant that to be an insult, but when I heard it, I thought it was the perfect comparison and in my mind, a really good point.

There are times when I'm annoyed by it, but that is few and far between. YAMATO vs. BxB Hulk from 7/20/14 is a great example. YAMATO works over Hulk's legs for 20 minutes and I swear, Hulk only used kicks when he was making his comeback and it was awfully annoying. I don't personally believe that there isn't a lot of attention to selling, but there are times that people have pointed out spots to me and I see where they're coming from. It just doesn't bother me, I guess.