Cap

God Damn It... What useless nonsense. I am all for them playing their heels against the understood good of women's wrestling getting these kinds of opportunities and the momentum/respect women have been getting on the whole. Hell, I think that can actually be good for getting the women's divisions over long term and getting legit heat on heels in the short term. But going out of their way to muddy this felt unnecessary and was really unsatisfying. It was even poorly executed for what it was. All the heat goes to Ellsworth. They could have done this in a way where Carmella was the center of attention, even if she sent him up the ladder. Yep.. Usos are really thriving in this role.

Man... my wife is really not a fan of Sam Roberts.

I kind of hate the MITB as a concept. It was a great idea for a one off, maybe something to do every few years when the timing is right and it can be done organically. Much like the Rumble winner getting the title shot at the biggest card of the year, someone getting such a huge reward for winning such an nontraditional match is just not something I really care for, especially when it is forced into whatever is going on once a year. That said, I am kind of looking forward to tonight. The mens MITB is stacked with talent and Dolph is the only guy that feels like filler to me. The women's match is booked the way I think MITB should be booked. It felt like it belonged in the women's title picture right now, so I kind of dig it beyond the novelty of it being the first women's MITB. It should be fairly fun on the whole. I guess I am just not as down on the WWE as bad. Granted, I only watch the hulu versions, nxt, and the occasional 205 live and all kind of in the background... that and i don't expect much from them on a week to week basis, but there has been some stuff to enjoy on both rosters. It is and they put it on Youtube so you can skip everything else that sucks. I wish they weren't wasting this build on a one off title defense. I am not going to be one bit surprised if they extend it to Summer Slam. It is so easily the hottest thing they have done in a while and far exceeding their expectations in terms of execution and buzz. I know Strowman was the plan and I thought he was really good and had real momentum, but in two weeks Joe has made everyone forget all that. It won't really surprise me either way, but I think they would be dumb to not play the hot hand a little longer.

I think all the women were better in NXT, even if they were less experienced. There was more emphasis on storytelling and less on sloppy athletic spots. I sort of agree with this... with the exception of Charlotte, who I think is worlds better on the main roster.

I just take as part of his character - intentional or not. He is either sort of a jaded, cocky wrestler who doesn't give a shit about fans and believes he above non-wwe wrestling... or he plays that character on and off screen. Either way, it jives with his character, so i just take it as part of that. I imagine he gets it CONSTANTLY. He should be above it, but I can imagine it is hard to not respond eventually. I once saw a guy get right in his face and flip him off when he still walked through the crowd; it must be exhausting to deal with that. I get a little torn about the criticism thing on the whole. Individual critiques and discussions can obviously be valid and you you clearly don't have to have stepped into the ring to have a valid opinion, but I also can't imagine being bombarded with constant and direct criticism now that twitter has apparently made some people feel entitled to just tell other people they suck. I get it. I don't mind being critiqued at my job, but I can have a sort of visceral backlash to it if I don't think the person knows what they are talking about, even if when the criticism is valid. It is the price of being in the entertainment business, especially in 2017, I guess. Plenty of fans are dicks about it and plenty of wrestlers overreact.

I am of the mind that part of the (or maybe just my) problem is that there isn't just an over-saturation of wrestling, there is an over-saturation of views on wrestling and that often affects how connected with or disconnected from I feel with regard to other fans in general. Everyone has an opinion (myself included) and depending on what I am watching, what digital spaces I am frequenting, and what I am listening to, sometimes I feel like I am on a different planet from some fans and sometimes I feel like I am on the same page as others (and those populations aren't consistent really). Thing is, I spent most of my life watching and loving wrestling without being a part of the online wrestling community (no twitter, no consistant use of message boards), so now that I started stepping into those worlds over the past few years they seem so vast, so endless that even though I feel like disconnected with some people or communities, I don't on the whole. This was hit earlier a few times, but there is just so much damn wrestling out there now and we have an impossibly enormous library of footage from the past that I can never really feel disconnected from wrestling on the whole. I am not even sure what I would mean if I said "current wrestling" or "current fanbase" because there is so much diversity in wrestling right now. It seems too reductive to just focus on WWE (though I see why it gets that treatment obviously). As trite as it is, I just love wrestling and if I don't like something i watch something else.

I have always felt like Punk and Dragon where a one-two punch that forced the company to recognize the value of wrestlers who were considered "indie guys" or "internet darlings" and that gets weirdly undersold to me sometimes. That opened the door for NXT to gain the momentum it did, made Vince and company feel more comfortable loosening the reigns a bit in this other space removed from the main roster. The current wave of guys benefits in that they don't have to overcome the same institutional biases to get their foot in the door and that there is an in house way of testing and measuring popularity, but they do have to still overcome a company that I am not sure knows how to work with them in diverse ways. I think the company (at least the people still controlling the main roster) more or less just assumed all these guys should be beloved like Punk and Dragon were if they plug them into top spots on the card. The point made my JR about them not knowing what to do with the white meat babies is a good one. Part of that is that NXT takes the origin story from people on the main roster. For those of us watching NXT it is great, but for everyone else it is "who gives a shit". That is a symptom of the current product though. There just isn't always the same attention put into how pieces fit into the universe they are creating. Zayn is the perfect example to me. They are only just now starting to give him a wrinkle that makes him stand out and he came out of NXT on fire. It really should not have taken this long. If they aren't careful they are going to lose all of Nak's momentum too.

I do think they were as much or more the product of the Revival's excess skill/heat/momentum. That doesn't mean they couldn't or shouldn't be bigger successes on the main roster.

Honestly, as much as stuff changes in the WWE, as much as their booking seems to be week to week, they may very well have "plans" for everyone they bring up and those plans may just change before they ever set foot in the ring. To me this seems more like a problem with their vision of the stories being so shortsighted than anything else.

I have said this multiple times, but it's worth repeating I feel: If Dave rates a match x stars, it's x stars to him. If you rate it at xy stars then it's xy to you. It's all subjective. He's clearly not taking them seriously anymore, so why does anyone else? Yeah, this (and similar sentiments) most jives with my feelings on the matter. I find the backlash against star ratings at least as, if not more, insufferable than the subjective use and supersaturation of star ratings. It seems like every couple months the conversation comes up and people bicker about what star ratings mean and what their value is. It is just a way to quantify one person's take on something. People approach how they give those stars differently and it doesn't take long to figure out if theirs is an opinion that you value and want to stock into. I have heard people mock star ratings in one breath and then painstaking try to decide if they think a match is "good" or "very good" in the next... ugh! It is all just different ways of trying to articulate the quality of a match from a singular perspective at a given time. It is a flawed system that is not remotely exhaustive for understanding or evaluating wrestling, but that doesn't mean we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. I think people get hung up on Dave's star ratings because they are the last bastion in this idea that star ratings somehow represent a more objective way or ordering wrestling because Meltzer remains probably the most recognizable critical voice in wrestling. Hell there might have been a time in internet fandom where the communities were small enough to maintain the illusion that star ratings meant more (or maybe they really did in certain places), but those days are more or less gone. The star system's flaws are on full display for everyone to see and Dave is highlighting them as much or more than anyone. As long as people keep coming back to them and talking about/debating his stars, they will be the most meaningful ratings in wrestling.

Two Savage vs Warrior matches? I'm listening... Also, I actually really liked Savage vs Andre from the SNME set. Andre's supposed distaste for Savage comes through when he is clobbering him and Savage bounces around like a goddamned pinball. This looks pretty interesting on the whole. I am for it.

Charlotte, but not by any sort of landslide right now. I think on the whole they draw about even to me, but Charlotte is trending upward and we more or less know what the Miz is. The Miz is a more complete and compelling character right now. He tipped with the Cena feud a bit (unfortunate feud that turned the admiration people had for him into pockets of cheers), and he hasn't quite been the same since. That said, I have more confidence that you can link him up with just about anyone and he can help carry a segment. He is still really limited in the ring to me. He can have standout performances here and there and he certainly isn't as much of a liability as he once was, but he isn't the guy who is going to churn out memorable matches. Charlotte, on the other hand, isn't quite there as far as a character, but she has surpassed Miz in the ring, at least as far as I am concerned. The main thing though is that we more or less know what the Miz is by this point. Charlotte is still improving in every aspect and she has improved leaps and bounds in the past couple years. I wasn't even really a fan until late in the Sasha feud, where I thought she hit a different stride, not only really coming into her character, but really feeling more in control in the ring. That has really allowed her to excel in terms of making herself seem important, despite not having that fully realized character or the mic skills the miz has yet. That really speaks to her intangibles, her presence, the way she carries herself and does a lot of the little things.

Man, I must be in the minority because I am not tentative at all about the potential of Brock/Joe. I mean nothing is sure-fire, so it is always a matter of potential. However, I think Brock has a really good track record in big matches since his UFC return (talking here about his initial return, not the little hiccup). The Ambrose match was a anomaly because he was headed to the UFC and focused on that comeback fight. I think Brock likes working with someone he can hit hard and who will hit him hard right back. Joe is absolutely that kind of guy. I am also not nearly as low on Joe as some people are. Sure he has been somewhat limited since getting called up (though I thought he has performed well, just been put in limiting spots). His NXT run was really strong though, especially in big matches. I liked his performances in the Balor and Nak feuds quite a bit. The feud with Nak was disappointing, but I watched every match and consistently felt like Joe was a bright spot. His 2/3 falls match with Zayn was really good. Is he prime Joe, naw, but he is still a pretty high level performer and I suspect he can even turn it back to hit that other level a time or two if need be. As I said before, I am trying to not get my hopes too high, because you never know. They could book it as as quash to "shock" everyone or it might just not jive as well as I assume it should (like Joe vs Nak), but I do think this has all the pieces and and am substantially more optimistic about the potential of this match than most, it seems.

Current favorite wrestler to watch: Trevor Lee (in CWF) Last fun match you saw: Trevor Lee vs Michael Elgin 6/3 Wrestler you want to see more of: Pete Dunne Last live show attended (if applicable/different from last time you answered): Modern Vintage Wrestling Summerheat 6/3 Match you're most looking forward to watching: Joey Janela vs Jimmy Havoc and Joe vs Brock Last fun interview/promo you saw: Joe/Heyman from 6/5 Last interesting thing you read about wrestling: On Strong Style, The Polar Opposite of Modern NJPW - Connor Dunphy (voices of wrestling) Last worthwhile podcast you listened to: ThROH the Years has been a fun one I recently started going through recently Most fun you've had watching wrestling lately: I had a blast at AIW's JLIT Night 1 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 finally got on NWA on Demand and I have really enjoyed going through that.

I thought the Brock/Joe segment was excellent. The build so far for this has been exceptional, especially considering how they have booked and framed Joe before this. Joe and Heyman, in a matter of two weeks/segments have some how given this a real big-fight feel and sold Joe as a unique threat to Brock. Joe striking first, the way he kept swinging and striking when Brock grabbed him, and that kick to the face all stood out to me. It seems these segments are getting generally positive reviews on the whole. I won't be surprised if they extend this into SummerSlam if the build up maintains its momentum. For the match itself, I am trying to keep my expectations in check somewhat, but there is no reason for me to believe that these two can't have a great match if they are given the freedom to do so. To me, this is the best thing they have done in some time and the segments are must-catch. I hope they let them pay it off with a quality match (or two).

**Spoilers** My understanding is that even though this was a MVW show, this will be on CWF down the road so if you keep up with the show and avoid spoilers, stop here I had pretty high expectations going into the building and these two really lived up. I thought Elgin gave this a big fight feel, a super fight feel. He worked it to a bigger crowd that gave it some gravity, but it also made some of the moments feel somewhat awkward and out of place in the small room. That is, there were just some spots where things didn't flow quite right, a few little moments here and there where things felt disjointed. That was really my only critique (and I am really nitpicking) of the match and it honestly might not hold up once I see it on tape. Elgin worked this like a monster. He didn’t give a lot early on. He gave gradually, putting on a performance that reminded me of Aja Kong or Vader at his best. Trevor fought from behind and that let him fire off offense in spurts. Between the high impact beating he took and the high octane counters and comebacks this match provided a lot of "oh shit" moments. Most of those moments come from Elgin and start early. Elgin takes control after countering the apron punt and keeps control with high impact moves and strikes that break Trevor's momentum. Don’t worry though, Trevor gets to kick him… real good. When they return to the Apron punt Trevor tries to chop him down with 5 HUGE kicks. They tie lots of things together really well. They threw bombs at each other and both men put some real power on display, but all of that was put within the context of good selling and solid pacing. Big Mike always excels with the power, but I thought Trevor showed up big there. He delivered a dead-lift suplex late in the match that pulled my back out. They also knew they were working within the context of Trevor’s epic run and had a few nice little callbacks to things, especially the Day match. Trevor kicks out at one at a point late in the match, a spot that let the crowd on fire during Day/Lee. Here everyone pops hard only to see all the life quickly drain from Trevor again as he slumped to the floor. It was sort of brilliant. The ending was good, but not quite as satisfying as I might have hoped for. It made a ton of sense and honestly the more I think about it the more I at least don't dislike it. They are moving like one of them is about to hit a deathblow, with lots of quick reverses and counters and escapes, and all the sudden its a flash roll-up. It was a desperation move by Lee and was consistent with the beating he just took. Lee gets a clean win and Elgin loses absolutely NOTHING. My favorite part of the match was just how they built the emotion and intensity. Trevor comes in fired up and Elgin is stoic. As the match moves forward Elign grows impassioned and frustrated. First he tells Trevor it is his house and slowly unfolds that emotion. That eventually turns into anger as he tells Lee to stay down. Lee on the other hand sells the beating like a champ. He doesn’t just sell the pain, his energy levels decline as he goes too. Like the abovementioned one count spot Trevor had fired up so many times that he just crashes to the ground because he has almost nothing left. That comes right before he gets the desperation rollup win. These two pay a lot of attention to detail. Regadless, this is a must see match. I am not seeing quite as much interweb hype as I saw for Day/Lee (I am new to twitter so maybe I am missing it), but I think this deserves some buzz. It was really really good. For those rating inclined, I put this just under Lee/Day, giving it ****1/2, but the more I talk/write about it the more I am talking myself into this being better than that. I always like to reserve final judgment till I see it on tape. I can see some of my complaints sort of disappearing a bit and some of the strengths of the match really being accented on camera. It is possible that the little moments that seemed disjointed to me might not hurt this and I up its rating. I am really excited for this to hit youtube. EDIT: This one finally came to youtube and confirmed more or less everything I wrote about it before. It was a great, physical match, something a good bit different than other Lee title matches here. Elgin played the final boss in a video game really well. I loved it

I can't really rate it because star ratings - at least for me - are a type of measure matches and his didn't have much in terms of that type of measurement; however, stars are not and should not be the end all of evaluating wrestling. I thought this and Starr/Sabre were the clear highlights of night one. Seven's promo and sell job were absolute big time. That dude gets it from a character and moment standpoint. I am so-so on him as a wrestler, but this was stand out stuff.

Keep an eye out for that Elgin/Lee match when it hits the intertubes. It was lights-out good. I am not quite sure I would put it with the Lee/Day match, just a half notch below that. Elgin really gave it a big fight, super fight feel. There were a few little awkward moments and spots that I nitpicked a bit, but it might actually come off better on the screen because I feel like Elgin was working to a bigger room. Again, that is just picking because the match was fantastic. Elgin sold gradually beat the hell out of Lee. Plenty of oh-shit moments, great execution. I can see myself liking this more on second watch. Lee produces another great match in the sportatoriam... surprise!

Made quite a few edits and additions to mine recently

Just watched this. I wasn't that high on it. It was lots of offense and some good back and forth, but it felt like both guys getting in the hits before the inevitable screwy end. The execution was good, minus a few places where they didn't hit some of the big things just right. I thought Tyler's character work was honestly the highlight. Overall, it was good. It gave the fans exactly what they wanted, but nothing special (IMO) from either. ***1/4

Yeah, that has been tough for me so far. I am too often thinking of non-wwe first and then trying to remember exactly how long and how many runs they were in the wwe for

So this weekend Big Mike Elgin is coming to the Sportatoriam to challenge Trevor Lee for the CWF Title on a Modern Vintage wrestling show. I am not always a huge Elgin fan, but this has BIG TIME written all over it. The show is actually pretty solid on the whole. I really looking forward to it.

I finally signed up a couple days ago and got to a few matches yesterday. I put off signing up for a while, mostly because I could tell this was going to demand a lot of my time and I wanted to wait until I could really dive in. Well that day never really came, but I was road tripping for some wrestling recently and catching up on podcasts and I heard Pete and Johnny on Space City talking about this crazy cage match between Terry Gordy and Ted DiBiase as part of an all time segment. For me, seeing some of the new uncovered stuff from Gordy is one of the draws to this. I love watching Gordy wrestle and always wished we had more where he was really put in a position to shine as a performer, at least in the American territories because I think that was the best fit for his skills when he was in his physical prime. Regardless, hearing that match posted and it was getting praise was the straw that broke the camel's back; I signed up. The service itself is incredible. Call me crazy, but I think it is the best buy in wrestling streaming. $6 for all these classic matches, many of which are being unearthed for the first time. I am really happy with my purchase and will likely stay on for quite a while. I only got to two three matches (two segments). Gordy/DiBiase and Gordy/Hayes (10/17/1986): I think Johnny and Pete more or less nailed everything I loved about the Gordy/DiBiase match, especially the angle. I won't repeat everything they said. I will add that I liked that parts of this were a little slower than I expected as they really sold that this was a FIGHT between two bad mother fuckers and they were both feeling it. Gordy's blade job was one of the most obvious I have seen, but it was also brutal. The crowd is face-melting hot eating up everything they gave em. I have nothing but love for this match. It is a ****3/4 to me, but that doesn't do the segment as a whole any justice really. DiBiase isn't done yet. The people paid to see him whip Hayes' ass and he is going to. I loved that he wouldn't let the belt be outside the cage so the match had this weird dynamic where Hayes is trying to get the belt back and DiBiase is beating his ass to keep it inside. It let them do some cool things with the how the match was functionally laid out without making it a stipulation. Also, they beat the holy hell out of each other. This is an all time performance from DiBiase really. You add the interviews before and after and this was just top shelf pro wrestling. I loved every minute. Andre vs Harley Race (1/7/1979): For my second (third) match I decided to check out that Andre/Race match I heard people going on about. This was so much fun. Seeing Andre work that main event style was really interesting, and somewhat strange. I loved seeing them go back and forth and really sell the competitive struggle between the two. I also always love seeing younger Andre; both men were really dynamic here. On the other hand seeing Andre work over a much much smaller man's arm and then get put in a bear hug was strange. Nothing that really took me out of the match, it just created some dissonance for me. This was still a great, fascinating match. I can't wait to dig into more this. I have some recommendations from people I am looking forward to getting to soon.

Man... I wasn't thrilled about their price anyway and at $30 there is a zero % chance I get in on that. I just subscribed to Progress and NWA on Demand Yesterday and I get both for like $13/month. I already have the WWE network. With all the other streaming services I could rotate in i am going to be a hard pass on floslam for the foreseeable future.

Yeah, I am game for this. I am glad I didn't do a GWE as I wasn't versed enough for my own liking, but it gave ma bit of an itch I haven't been able to scratch. This is very manageable and compelling.